Seperation
by X5 - 452
Summary: FINISHED Rei's father takes Rei away from everything she has known, throwing her into a new upperclass life. Now she has to deal with a woman hating step-brother and his mysterious yet attractive friends. ReiHeero UsagiDuo MakotoTrowa AmiQuatre MinakoWufe
1. Leaving Home

Separation – Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER

I don't own any of the characters, I wish I did but I don't. They belong to the God's who created them, but I love them all just the same!

OOC: I love Rei/Heero pairings so if you don't like it, I don't give a damn! And I now Minako and Wufei may sound a little weird, but you will see why I want them to be together later in the story, As Minako's is Rei's best friend she doesn't want just anyone dating Minako, and Rei will have a few problems with Wufei dating Minako.

Chapter 1 – Leaving Home

"No! I'm not leaving here, you can't make me?"

Rei glared furiously at the aged gentleman in front of her, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him into hell where he belonged. The man seemed unperturbed by her unladylike outburst as he rolled his eyes.

"I am your father, you will do as I say," he said simply as though expecting her to do just that but Rei placed her feet firmly apart hands on her hips in a defiant stance. Hell would freeze over before she would go anywhere with this man.

"I don't even know you," she retorted rudely hating him with all her might. If looks could be fire, Rei's father would have been ash.

When Rei's mother had died, it seemed like a part of Rei's father had died with her. He couldn't stand the thought or the presence of his only child, a daughter who looked every inch like the woman he loved and so Rei's father had done the only thing he knew that would keep his deceased wife from his mind. He sent Rei away, and he had moved on. He was about to be married, in just under a month, to a political opponents sister to mend bridges in the eyes of the public, and he needed Rei there for all the publicity events to show a united front. He would not risk Rei ruining his plans; her refusal could ruin his career. And his career was all he had left in his mind.

Rei didn't know this man in front of her at all. From a young age, 'father' was not a word that had passed her lips. IT was until she was twelve or so she began to even know who he was. H was just a photo in a newspaper to her, a photo on a promotional poster, a person on a commercial break on the television. How dare he just turn up at the temple and expect Rei to forget about her whole life and go with him? He was severely disillusioned if he thought she was going anywhere with him.

"I don't need you to know me, I need you to come with me right now," her father said getting a little pissed off. He thought he had sent her to a private school to learn to be a good, obedient daughter; he would have to remedy that when he took her back with him. Perhaps a new school would teach her some manners.

"I refuse to go," Rei said darkly, her voice strong with conviction.

"If you do not come, I will make life very difficult for your grandfather," her father threatened and Rei smirked. How like her father. To try and ruin what Rei had here in order to get her to come with him.

"You can't do anything to him."

"Can't I? This is a big temple Rei, temples like this need funding, if you don't come with me, this temple will fall to the dust without my support," her father gave her the option and Rei's eyes widened in shock not believing him to be so cold-hearted as to hurt his own father.

"You bastard," she hissed then took a deep breath tilting her head up proudly, "We'll manage?"

"Will you? With you still in school, I think that is quite impossible."

"I'll drop out and get a job," Rei fixed that quite easily and her father laughed.

"That still wouldn't be enough, be a smart girl Rei, you are my daughter after all, pack your bags and lets go, its useless to resist," he said his dark eyes burning into hers and Rei knew then and there he meant all that he said. He would destroy his own father to further his political career. It made her sick to her stomach but she knew what she had to do.

"I...I have to say good...goodbye to my...friends..." Rei's strong voice faltered as she realized she would have to leave behind her whole life, her friends who had become her only family. Her best friend, Minako, she would be so sad. Ever since they had met the two hadn't been apart from each other for longer than a day. Ami and Mako, they had been her friends for so long, they had been her strength her support. And her princess, Usagi, it would break her heart. Rei sniffed bravely as her eyes welled with tears. This wasn't fair. Rei hated the world, she hated her father she hated everyone!

"Well hurry up and do it then, I will be at your school collecting your grades, I will come back in two hours and then we are leaving."

Rei's father turned on his heel not caring that his daughter had tears streaming down her face and Rei raced inside to call Minako and tell her the bad news.

Two hours later Rei stood at the top of the temple steps surrounded by Minako, Makoto, Ami and Usagi. All had red-rimmed eyes from crying. Even now Usagi still whimpered sadly.

"Come on Rei, let's go now."

Rei's father was waiting impatiently by the car and Rei sniffed back her tears turning to her four dearest friends.

"Oh Rei, this is terrible, you have to come visit whenever you can," her blue haired friend said pulling Rei into a delicate hug and Rei smiled through her tears pressing her forehead to Ami's.

"Senshi forever Ami," Rei whispered and Ami backed off to let the others say their goodbyes.

"It feels so unreal, but you'll be eighteen soon and you can go off on your own, come back here, we will always be waiting for you, you can come live with me," Makoto promised, the tall brunette brushed away her tears quickly not wanting to cause a scene as she and Rei hugged and Rei giggled a little.

"I'll make sure to send you photos of the good looking boys at my new school," Rei promised grinning from ear to ear and Makoto chuckled.

"Maybe one of them will look like my old boyfriend," Makoto completed the joke stepping aside as a flurry of meatballs and spaghetti bowled Rei over into a fierce hug.

"Fear not Moon Princess, I will always be here to protect you, I am two hours drive away, be happy Serenity, I will be back soon, you won't even notice I'm gone," Rei whispered so Usagi alone could hear and Usagi was heard to hiccup back her sobs as she pulled away from Rei pursing her lips. Usagi didn't need to say anything. Her wide blue eyes said everything she was feeling as they always did. Lastly Rei turned to her best friend, knowing this would be the hardest goodbye but to her surprise Minako was smiling widely, her eyes bright and happy.

"How can you look so happy when we are about to say goodbye?" Rei asked a little confused by her friends reaction and Mina shook her head pulling Rei into a tight hug squeezing her for effect.

"Its not goodbye Rei, its never goodbye, not for us," Minako said logically in her bright happy way and Rei held out her hand to her best friend, her eyes shining.

"Friends forever Minako."

Minako clasped Rei's hand back, as they two stared at each other. They had been best friends ever since they had met when they discovered they were both senshi and destined to protect the earth. Even though they were as different as oil and water they seemed to stick well, Minako's chirpiness seemed to balance out Rei's moodiness. Minako and Rei. Rei and Minako. Their names were intertwined and always would be if they had their say.

"Friends forever Rei," Minako promised smiling still but her tears and quivering lower lip betrayed her sadness.

"Rei, I said lets go," he father called to her impatiently and she turned to him rolling her eyes.

"I'm coming!"

"Asshole," Makoto muttered.

"You said it," Rei agreed looking at her friends again one at a time. Minako. Ami. Mako. Usagi. She imprinted them into her memory, so that when she was lonely she could bring them to her.

"We will come and visit in two weeks," Minako promised grabbing Rei's hand and squeezing it and Rei nodded then turned and started walking to her where her father waited at the limo.

She didn't look back.

"Bye Rei, I will miss you," she heard Usagi call out to her and that near broke Rei's heart. She was leaving her princess because her selfish father decided he wanted to become all paternal.

Rei's father opened the door for her and she sat on the seat not looking at him, staring straight in front of her. Her father got in beside her and gestured for the limo driver to go and as the car pulled away Rei's father looked out of the window at Rei's friends.

"They seem like nice girls," he murmured to Rei in an attempt to be fatherly and Rei's only response was to grunt and look out of her window.


	2. Home

Chapter 2: Home

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.... except for dear old Grimsy!!!

OOC: Thanks everyone for your reviews that was awesome. Hopefully I will be able to get more of this done before I go away to Fiji on the 02 Dec. Introducing Rei's step-brother in this chapter...who could it be? Hint it's a gundamn pilot!

"Rei sweetie, we're home," Rei heard a soft manly voice tell her and she felt someone shake her shoulder gently, the touch comforting. A memory passed across Rei's mind of when she was three years old coming home from visiting her grandfather at the temple.

_Little Rei was curled up in a ball on her mother's lap, her thumb stuck in her mouth as she sucked peacefully. Above her she could hear her mother's gentle breathing as the feeling of her soft fingers stroking her hair. Her mother was so gentle, so sweet; Little Rei loved her with all her heart._

"_Don't wake her love, she looks like an angel," Little Rei heard her mother say so sweetly and she could hear her father chuckle._

"_She's our little angel," he said lovingly as he reached across to shake Little Rei ever so gently to wake her up. Little Rei opened her eyes to see his smiling face so full of love and affection and she gave a great yawn causing him to laugh as he scooped her up and spun her around. _

"_I love you papa!" Little Rei screamed fully awake, kicking her legs to urge more rough play and her father pulled her to him and held her close. _

"_I love you too my little fire angel," her father told her kissing her button nose and Little Rei gave a sigh of deep contentment. _

_And then...there was a scream and the sound of screeching tires..._

Someone shook her again and when Rei opened her eyes to see her father's grim face she gave an involuntary shudder at his touch and he pulled his hand away frowning. He knew that she didn't like him but the way she reacted to his touch, Kayuto Hino was beginning to wonder if his daughter really did despise him to the point where she couldn't bear him touching her.

Rei's eyes gave nothing away of the memory she had just experienced. She would never show her feelings in front of her father. She had almost forgotten that she had once loved her father; she had forgotten that he had once loved her too. But the father Rei knew when she had been a little girl was gone, this man was not her father.

"We're home," he finished gesturing to the car door and Rei narrowed her eyes darkly.

"This will never be my home," she retorted darkly looking out of the window at the three storey mansion that belonged to Kayuto and Kayuto sighed and got out of the car, hurrying to open Rei's door but she had anticipated his move and had vacated the car quickly. Upon seeing a woman running towards them waving Rei wished she had stayed in the car.

"Kayuto sweetheart, you're home so soon!" the woman cooed as she engulfed him in a hug and gave him a sultry kiss on the lips.

Rei felt her rage boil. Did her father love her mother so little that he felt he could replace her with this...this other woman who was nothing like her mother?

Rei's mother had been a stunning beauty from what Rei had heard and from the pictures she had seen. Reika had had long ebony tresses, just like Rei, pale oval face, just like Rei, eyes of deep amethyst, just like Rei, a slim, supple figure filled out in all the right places, just like Rei. No wonder Rei's father hadn't wanted her around; Rei was a walking image of his dead wife. Kayuto's fiancé was tall, intimidating, with hair of honey blonde, that curled in ringlets, her face was beautiful, pouting lips, high cheekbones but her eyes were what made Rei not trust her. Her eyes were so brown they were nearly black, slanted, like snakes eyes. Her grandfather had once told her that a person's personality represents the animal they resemble. Rei shivered involuntarily when the woman looked upon her. There was just something in that forced smile that Rei didn't like. The woman came forward to view Rei properly with Kayuto standing behind her.

"You must be Rei, my name is Mariko, your father has told me so much about you," Mariko gushed pleasantly and Rei snorted with contempt, startling Mariko with her blunt response.

"How could he when he doesn't even know me?" Rei questioned obnoxiously and Kayuto shook his head then gestured to the house to explain the layout.

"This will be your home from now on, your bedroom will be on the second floor, Grimsy my butler will take you to you room now," at Kayuto's words Rei heart lightened a little. Grimsy. He had been with her father when Rei had been a little girl; she remembered liking him very much and was glad she would have at least one friend in this house.

"The third floor is hardly used, just a few empty rooms, your friends may stay in there if they care to visit, first floor you will find the kitchen, dining room, breakfast hall, library, swimming pool, sauna, steam room, the study, my office is also on the first floor, you will find your step-brother-to-be in the gymnasium in the basement, he insisted we have one installed," Kayuto rattled off the list but stopped when he saw Rei's face.

"A step-brother?" Rei asked incredulously and it all fell into place. Why her father had chosen now to get married. After he had married his protégé Kaidou off to his political opponents daughter he needed someone to mould to take his place. It looked like her new step-brother was about to follow in her father's footsteps.

"You always did want a son to replace the one you lost, I saw in the paper Kaidou had joined the opposition, unfortunate for you that your plan backfired," Rei said quietly but Kayuto heard her and his face turned white.

He had always felt horrible about Kaidou and what he had done to the man he had thought of as his son and his daughter. They had been friends the two of them, despite the age difference, and Kayuto had known that Rei was actually in love with Kaidou. It had frightened Kayuto that day, when Kaidou had come into his office confessing his love for Rei and asking for Kayuto's permission to court Rei, Kayuto's heart had frozen. He didn't want anyone dating his little girl, especially Kaidou, whom he had such high hopes for. So Kayuto had denied Kaidou's request, and he had arranged for Kaidou to be introduced to a girl Kayuto thought more suitable. And poor Rei. She had hated Kaidou after that, not knowing that Kaidou had actually loved her back. Kaidou married his opponents' daughter, and resented Kayuto so much that he couldn't stand to work for him and that had near torn Kayuto apart. Kaidou had joined the oppositions side, which was not what Kayuto had planned at all. That was one of two things Kayuto deeply regretted doing, the other was leaving his wife in the car the day a drunk truck driver had ploughed into the car launching the car off a cliff right before his and Rei's eyes.

Rei saw in her father's eyes a flash of undisguised pain she hadn't thought he was capable offeeling and shifted uncomfortably when Mariko regarded the two curiously, obviously not knowing what either of them were talking about. Rei stared her father in the eyes unafraid of retribution for her words, and Kayuto just gazed back at her, for a moment seeing a glimpse of his dead wife in their daughter and he turned away from Rei, not wanting to see her. Rei recognised this action from when she had been a little girl and just like then, she felt like she was the most hideous creature in the world because her father couldn't bare to look at her. Mariko sought to diffuse the situation, not liking the look Kayuto was giving Rei, she saw him get that look sometimes when he was looking at a photo of his deceased wife he had hanging in the dining room.

"My son Wufei is your age Rei so hopefully you two will get along," Mariko interrupted the conversation and Rei shot her an irritated look sick of her bubbly attitude.

"Whatever, I'll be in the gym if you need me," Rei muttered grabbing her knapsack as Grimsy appeared as if by magic to pick up her bags and lead the way. As Grimsy and Rei disappeared into the house Mariko's mind started to function.

Mariko was a social climbing woman and didn't like anything standing in her way. And she could just sense that Rei was going to be a problem. A problem that Mariko needed to deal wit immediately. She wouldn't let anything get in the way of her marriage to Kayuto; she had worked too hard for this.

Kayuto studied his fiancée and saw a look of deep concentration and calculation that he had seen a few times before and as always it bothered him. He didn't know what Mariko was thinking most of the time and that worried him as he had always been able to easily read people.

"Rei and I must go shopping this week and have a mother-daughter day, there is so much to buy her, dresses for all the functions, outfits for the day trips...why are you smiling like that?" Mariko demanded placing her well-manicured hands on her hips glaring at Kayuto, who had a wide grin on his face.

"I may not know my daughter very well, but I do know that the only way you will get her to go anywhere with you is the drag her, no offence sweetheart," Kayuto said kissing her forehead and going into the house chuckling at the thought of Rei and Mariko going on a mother-daughter anything.

Mariko watched him go, her eyes narrowing into slits.

"None taken."

Grimsy left her at the door to her room and Rei had beamed widely at him.

"Thanks you Grimsy," Rei thanked him for his assistance and the old man tilted his head to acknowledge her gratitude.

"No troubles at all Miss Rei," Grimsy replied hobbling off to do his other duties and Rei had gone into her room, marveling at the beauty of it before changing quickly into her work out clothes and headed down stairs to the basement.

As she walked Rei thought of Usagi, Ami, Mako and Mina and her anger from before came flooding back in folds. She hated her father so much for taking her away. It wasn't fair; she had been happy where she was. That was her father, Kayuto Hino, always had to be controlling lives.

By the time she had reached the basement Rei was furious and in good need of a work out. Pushing open the door to the gym Rei strode inside throwing down her towel on the closest bench and unzipping her jumper. _I really need to kick someone's arse, if it can't be my father's anyone will do,_ Rei thought looking around for a punching bag when she felt something cool and sharp pressed against her neck.

"Who are you?" a deep voice demanded as Rei registered that her attacker had pointed a katana at her throat. She twisted her head in an effort to see him but he stayed in the darkness waiting for her answer.

"Ah a volunteer," Rei murmured to herself smiling gleefully. This must be her step-brother-to-be Wufei.

"What are you muttering onna?" the voice demanded and a young boy stepped into her view still holding the katana at her throat.

Wufei was taller than Rei by a few cm's, black hair like her own tied in a ponytail behind his head, eyes like his mothers, although he seemed somewhat different to his mother. His eyes weren't snakelike; they seemed alert, like he was watching everything like a hawk. Rei could tell that he was nothing like his mother from where he stood. The first hint was that he didn't bother to pretend he minded her presence.

"My name is not onna, my name is Rei, and you better get used to be and sharing because I will be your...stepsister," Rei's mouth tasted bitter at the words and she saw Wufei shudder as she said that and knew she wasn't the only one who resented her father getting married to Mariko. It seemed her son wasn't too keen on the idea either.

"Get out of my gym," Wufei hissed nastily and Rei reached up her finger and pushed the katana away getting quite fed up with him. No one spoke to her like that.

"I don't know if you've looked at your birth certificate lately but last time I checked I was Kayuto Hino's biological child and I do believe this is his house so I may go where I like, I have more of a right to be here than you do," Rei retorted rudely and Wufei seemed to bristle with rage as his face turned a deep red.

"I said get out onna," he spat at her again and Rei sauntered in front of him, taunting him as she removed her sweat jacket to reveal a sports crop top, and three quarter length cotton work out pants.

"My my temper temper, how unbecoming."

Wufei looked at her and blushed bright red, never having seen a woman so.... undressed. He hated them because they were all like his mother, and most of the girls at his school were afraid of him or despised him because he called them all onna. Rei's body was firm and toned, her bare stomach showing hints of a six pack, her belly button stud glistening in the light and Wufei couldn't take his eyes off her much to his surprise and disgust.

"Take a picture bro, it will last longer," Rei chuckled at his reaction, quite used to men acting like this around her. When she went to the gym it had always been like this, from the patrons to the gym instructors, all of them stared. For as far as Rei could remember men had been looking at her, and she had minded at first, but nowadays she usedtheir attentionto get her own way most of the time. The saying was if you got it; flaunt it.

Wufei snapped out of his trance and eyes widened when he realized she was implying he had been checking her out. Wufei covered his embarassment at being caught out with anger. How dare she just saunter around here like she owned the place? He had been here first, this gym was his. He had swallowed his pride and asked Hino to build the gym especailly for him,after going through that humility, Wufei was notgiving his gym up to just anyone.Especailly an onna.

"This is injustice," Wufei cursed under his breath but Rei heard him easily enough and put her hands on her hips standing with his feet apart as she did when challenging someone.

"Fine, I will fight you for use of the gym then," Rei invited, knowing she was about to get the work out she desired but she was unprepared when Wufei turned away from her. She hadn't been expecting him to walk away. He was surpising to say the least.

"I will not fight a weak onna," Wufei replied stonily starting to walk awaybut stopped whenRei called after him,

"It's your only chance to get rid of me."

Wufei turned around considering his options. He was a good fighter, he knew that, the best at his school, he could certainly take her on, and win and then he wouldn't have to share his private space with an onna. The more he thought about it, the more Wufei started to like the idea. This girl had no idea who she was messing with.

"Very well," Wufei conceded and grinning Rei made her way to the enclosed boxing area. The gym as quite expansive in the basement, all sorts of weight equipment, exercise bikes, boxing ring, work out mat, punching back practice area, everything Rei had ever wanted in a gym, and she was just about to win the rights to use it.

OOC: oooh a fight, we all love fights!!!!! Does this chapter suck??? I did have another written out but I bloody lost it so I had to go from memory....


	3. Fight Me

Chapter 3 - Fight Me

Disclaimer: blah blah I don't own any of the characters.... damn it!!

Rei quickly tied her long hair into a ponytail to keep it out of her face and did a few warm up positions to get her in the mood to kick Wufei's butt. Wufei however was watching her with peaking interest. Never had a girl so much as looked at him the wrong way. Underneath his scowl Wufei was pleased this marriage hadn't given him a weak sister.

Rei looked Wufei over considering his weaknesses and flaws, but he gave nothing away with his stoic expression. Rei knew then and there that she had to be careful and let him attack first so that she could learn more about his style of fighting.

"You ready Onna?" Wufei called to her from one side of the ring and Rei felt her anger grow. _Keep it up Wufei,_ Rei thought as she felt the fire traveling from her hands all over her body.

"Always bro," Rei replied and again Wufei shuddered at her familiarity towards him.

They both sank into low positions and advanced on each other.

"And in the blue corner dressed in his usual white karate outfit we have the pride of Koruya High School, our hero, Wuffie the Intimidating!"

Rei looked up at the sound of another voice and Wufei seemed ready to explode with indignation. It was then she noticed a young man standing there watching the two of them. He had a long, chocolate brown braid that reached halfway down his back and cheerful brown eyes, from where he stood, for some reason he reminded Rei of Minako and Rei felt her heart ache.

"I'd watch my mouth if I were you Duo Maxwell, you know i only tolerate you because you are Heero's half-brother, call me Wuffie again and you loose the braid," Wufei hissed at the young man through gritted teeth and Duo reached around to grab his braid and tug on it.

Poking his tongue out at Wufei, Duo skipped over to Rei's side of the ring obviously taking her side in the disagreement.

"I hope she wins," Duo retorted spitefully and Wufei rolled his eyes at Duo's childish antics.

"Baka," Wufei muttered at Duo who was looking up at Rei adoringly.

"And in the red corner, is the chick dressed in a very sexy revealing outfit..." Duo didn't get any further as Rei's shoe hit him straight in the forehead.

"Don't disrespect me!" Rei said quietly and Duo grinned, not at all miffed she had thrown her shoe at him as he threw it back so she could put it on and continue the fight.

"Yes ma'am," Duo confirmed giving Rei a gay little salute and Rei giggled, liking the young man instantly, mainly because he reminded her of Minako.

"Enough games," Wufei said annoyed with all the interruptions, he wanted this girl out so he could bash Duo, "Let's begin."

Rei nodded and her focus returned to Wufei. Wufei was feeling quite cocky at this point in time, knowing he had the advantage of height and strength, but Rei knew the bigger he was the harder he would fall. Wufei lunged forward to punch her, but Rei ducked the attack under his arm and recovered quickly to elbow Wufei in the back of the head as he passed her and he fell face first into the mat, much to Duo's amusement.

"Strike one," Rei taunted as Wufei huffily got to his feet and stalked the mat for a few moments, wondering how this onna could have gotten the better of him.

Wufei stepped back to watch Rei move and she winked at him, fuelling his anger so that Wufei threw all caution to the wind again and went for a running attack. Rei knew exactly how to handle an attack like this. As Wufei neared Rei leant forward and grabbed his arm, spinning around so that she was facing the same way as Wufei she crouched into a ball pulling hard of Wufei's arm so that Wufei flipped over her and fell flat on his back.

At the sound of applause Rei turned to greet her audience and saw that there were three other young men standing with Duo. One was a good-looking blonde haired boy, with eyes of blue, he reminded Rei vaguely of Usagi. Another had hair that fell across his eyes giving him a mysterious look, and his eyes were a mysterious emerald green that were quite captivating. Rei knew Makoto would have loved this young man. The last young man seemed wise beyond his years, he stood a little further away from the rest of them, his arms crossed in front of his chest, his hair was brown and messy and his eyes were a Prussian ice blue.

"What do you say? Three strikes and I win?" Rei asked letting down her guard and Duo was nodding but he stopped quickly looking at something behind her and Rei remembered she had left her back undefended.

Rei tried to defend herself as she turned around, but she was totally unprepared when Wufei slammed his fist into her eye._ Ow, that's going to bruise_, Rei thought clutching at her eye and Wufei gave a laugh of triumph that fuelled Rei's next moves. Rei sunk into a sweeping kick and took the legs right out from under Wufei and for the second time that match he found himself on his back. Rei didn't give him a chance this time. Rei straddled Wufei ignoring Duo's whistles of encouragement and placed her fingers in the pressure points on his neck, sufficiently disabling his movement. For a girl Rei was surprisingly strong, and she knew her senshi powers had something to do with it. Rei moved her knee so that it was pressed against Wufei's windpipe.

"Yield," Rei ordered but Wufei stared up at her stubbornly refusing to bend to a girl, despite the fact he couldn't breathe.

"I said yield," Rei snapped pressing down with her knee threatening but she froze when she felt the barrel of a gun pressed against her forehead.

"Let him go," a voice said coldly and Rei looked up to see the boy with ice blue eyes staring down at her over the barrel of the gun he pointed at her head and Rei stared up at him unafraid. She had died in battle so many times a gun scarcely mattered to her.

The young man seemed to see she wasn't afraid of the gun and his aim wavered a little. _How could she not be afraid?_ The young man wondered to himself, finding himself gazing into her wide violet eyes that seemed like they knew so much more than they should.

"Heero, you can't just pull a gun on her," Duo came running to interfere, the other two young men following him but Heero gestured his half-brother back, keeping the gun on Rei. Rei considered her options and finally got up off Wufei backing away slowly. Wufei began coughing as he struggled to crawl to his feet and Heero put the gun away in the holster he wore under his jacket.

"You alright?" Heero asked Wufei and Wufei rubbed his throat glaring at Rei who folded her arms across her chest and tossed her hair, smiling.

"Yeah," Wufei growled, his voice a little rough around the edges and Heero nodded towards Rei.

"Now admit she is the victor of the match."

Wufei's eyes bulged with indignation and he opened his mouth to protest but one icy gaze from Heero and Wufei shut his mouth.

"You win, you can use the gym," he said sulkily crossing his arms across his chest.

"Thanks," Rei said smiling brightly then she held out her hand to him, "you put up a good fight."

"You don't do too bad either," Wufei replied taking her hand and shaking it firmly.

Rei looked over to Heero who regarded her coolly for a few moments then turned and strode off.

"Does that guy always carry a gun?" Rei turned to Duo since he seemed to be the one who was the most talkative. She was right.

"Of course, Heero got sent to military school when he was twelve, he knows how to use a gun more skillfully than our father and our father was a general in the army," Duo said puffing out his chest proudly and Rei frowned trying to take all this in. Life here was a lot different to Tokyo.

"And that doesn't bother you guys?" Rei asked looking at the others who all shrugged and shook their heads.

They were used to Heero and his strange ways, after all they had been friends since they were kids. Since Wufei had tried to pick a fight with Heero in grade school. Quatre had run in between them trying to diffuse the fight before it began but he had been the one to get punched. As Quatre's cousin Trowa had run in only to be jumped on by Duo who was protecting his half brother. They had been friends ever since.

"No, why does it bother you?" the blonde boy asked frowning and Rei nodded her head thinking of the cold barrel pressed against her forehead.

"It makes me a little uncomfortable, i hate guns."

It was only after saying this Rei realized that Heero had returned holding a packet of frozen peas and he was standing right beside her. Rei felt herself blushing deep red and Duo opened his mouth to point it out when Quatre, the blonde haired boy had covered his mouth with his hand. .

"Here," Heero said simply handing her the peas and Rei put the peas on her eye, wincing at the coldness.

"Thanks," she murmured a little embarrassed to have been caught talking about him. Heero reached forward to adjust the peas and Rei shivered, not knowing if she was shivering because of the frozen peas or because Heero was standing so close to her.

"Guns are sometimes necessary to protect the ones you love," Heero whispered to Rei so that only she could hear and with her one eye she watched his face. It was twisted with pain and something hidden in his words. It was then that Rei knew that there was something very special and delicate about Heero, despite his tough act.

"Well its nice to see you have all met," Rei's father descended the stairs smiling his greeting to all the young men and Rei noticed the scowl on Wufei's face and deduced that he liked her father about as much as she did.

"Actually Kayuto we haven't all met," Rei retorted rolling her eyes and Kayuto looked like Rei had slapped his face, but he recovered quickly.

"Well perhaps once you have all met, you could join us in the dining room, we are ready for dinner to be served," Kayuto asked with forced politeness and like only a daughter could, Rei imitated him relying scathingly,

"If you don't mind I'd rather eat in my room, the company there is more preferable."

"I do mind!" Kayoto lost his temper quickly, but Rei seemed unperturbed by his yelling and Kayuto calmed himself as he remembered they had guests and he said quietly with menace, "You will be in the dining room or else."

"Or else what?" Rei asked him, her violet eyes challenging him.

"Don't make me angry Rei," Kayuto warned her darkly and Rei gave a dry laugh, ignoring everyone else who were staring at father and daughter fighting.

"Anger you? How could someone as insignificant as me possibly anger you?" Rei questioned stalking towards him, and Kayuto looked away, not wanting to have this discussion in front of these people.

"This is not the time nor the place."

"It never is for you," the words Rei spoke really cut Kayuto who turned on his heel, striding from the room stopping only at the door to say,

"Be in the dining room in ten minutes."

As soon as he was gone Rei let down her defenses and began breathing deeply. Duo let out a long whistle never having seen anyone stand up to Kayoto Hino. The man was just plain scary.

"Wow, I haven't heard anyone ever stand up to old man Hino like that before, who did you say you were?" Duo asked staring at Rei with a newfound admiration and Rei smirked.

"I didn't say, I'm Rei Hino," Rei said and Duo's eyes nearly popper out of his head.

"Your Hino's daughter? Wow, I didn't think you would be so hot... I mean, you don't look like him at all," Duo tried to recover his embarrassment but wasn't doing very well and Heero chuckled and fondly grabbed his young half-brother in a headlock ruffling his hair.

"Enough out of you," Heero chided Duo who struggled to get out of Heero grip.

"Who are all of you?" Rei asked looking around the group of men who all seemed so different.

"I'm Quatre Raberba Winner, my father owns Winner Multimedia," the blonde haired boy introduced himself bowing his head politely and Rei's eyes widened in shock recalling Winner Multimedia was a billion dollar company.

"My friend Ami is trying to get a scholarship with your company," Rei remembered and Quatre raised an eyebrow.

"Let me know her details and I can make sure she gets it," he offered kindly and Rei shook her head knowing there'd be all sorts of trouble if she did that.

"I don't think so, Ami would kill me if she knew I had pulled strings to get her the scholarship, she likes to do things on her own merit," Rei declined Quatre's offering smiling thankfully. Quatre shrugged in response.

"The offer is still there if you ever want to take it," he said and Rei tapped her nose confidently.

"I'll keep that in mind. "

"Trowa Barton, my father owns the Barton Circus Chain," the boy with the long fringe introduced himself and Rei's cocked her head to one side.

"A Circus Chain?" she repeated a little bewildered, knowing that Barton Circus, just like Winner Multimedia was a billion dollar business. My goodness, Rei realized, these guys are all rich.

"You should see Trowa on the trapeze!" Duo said jumping up and down excitedly and Rei noticed that Duo must be a year younger than the other guys, because his maturity level still wasn't quite up there with the rest of them.

"You perform?" Rei asked Trowa surprised, knowing you needed great skill to be on a trapeze.

"Whenever I can," he confirmed smiling slightly and Rei turned to Duo and Heero.

"And you?" she enquired and Duo like always couldn't wait to open his big mouth to talk to the hot chick.

"I'm Duo Maxwell-Yuu and this is my brother Heero Yuu, our father was a general in the army, but now he runs a military school for the wealthy," Duo said and Heero nodded affirming his brother's outburst.

"Wow, and you all go Koruya High School?" Rei asked and when that was confirmed by nods of heads, "I will be starting there tomorrow."

"Well at least you will have some friends," Duo said placing at arm around Rei's shoulder in a friendly manner, but his smile was mischievous and as his hand brushed her breast Rei moved to hit him but Heero was way ahead of her as he smacked Duo on the back of his head.

"Behave," Heero warned his brother who gave him an innocent grin and bounded towards the stairs.

"Come on guys, dinner time!"

Duo disappeared through the door and Wufei rolled his eyes.

"Maxwell, I did not invite you to dinner!" Wufei cried out running after Duo who was heard to blow a raspberry, which only made Wufei growl and run faster out of the gym.

Quatre and Trowa seemed sufficiently embarrassed at their friend's behavior and ran off after the other two, with Quatre trying to stop Wufei from trying to remove Duo's braid. Heero was regarding Rei with that intense look she noticed he had when he was thinking hard. He opened his mouth to say something to her but then seemed to change his mind and he turned and strode from the room. Rei took a deep breath and followed them to the dining hall a sick sense of apprehension in the pit of her stomach. She could feel something was going to happen at dinner, and it wouldn't be pleasant.


	4. Dinner

Chapter 3 – Family Dinner

OOC: this has one bit of swearing so don't read if you don't like swearing. Umm disclaimer here, I don't own any of the characters at all. Well Mariko is mine and Kayuto too but that's it.

Rei was the last to arrive in the dining room and everyone was already seated, so she took the only vacant place in between Duo and Heero. Wufei sat opposite Rei and Quatre and Trowa mirrored Duo and Heero on the other side of the table. Mariko and Kayuto sat at opposite ends of the table. As Rei glanced around she could noticed that the tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Duo seemed obvious to the tension, as did Quatre and Trowa, and even her father seemed mildly disinterested, but Wufei, Heero, and Mariko, something was going on there, something had happened between the three.

Kayuto gestured for the entrée to be served and in the silence Heero was shooting death glares at Mariko who laughed nervously and took a sip of her wine. Wufei was staring at his mother with narrowed eyes, especially when she looked at Duo and leaned closer to him to talk to him where he sat next to her.

"How is school Duo?" Mariko asked with a strange glint in her eyes and Duo opened his mouth to reply but didn't get around to it.

"That is none of your business," Heero replied darkly, his voice soft but filled with heavy menace.

Kayuto looked up not liking the tone of Heero's voice and gave him a stern gaze.

"Young man, in my house you will respect all adults," Kayuto said quietly, but his voice was threatening and Heero nodded his head.

"Yes sir."

"Good," Kayuto obviously thought the conversation was over but Heero hadn't finished with Mariko yet as he stared straight at her.

"But some people aren't adults, some people are children disguised as adults, children who don't care if they hurt people, children who think they can just discard people and pick them up when they feel like it."

"Heero Yui!" Kayuto thundered at the boy who stood up straight his spine tall and proud as he gave Kayuto Hino the middle finger.

"Shove it Hino! Let's go Duo," Heero said striding from the room and Duo looked suitably embarrassed before scurrying from his chair to run after Heero.

Kayuto calmed himself and began munching on his salad.

"Wufei, you are not to bring that boy around here anymore, or his brother," Kayuto told his step-son-to-be in a conversational tone and Wufei's face turned into a scowl.

Surprisingly it was Mariko who spoke up on Heero and Duo's behalf, despite the fact that Heero had just told her off for something only they knew about. Rei made a note of this frowning, something just wasn't right.

"Kayuto that's a little harsh, they are Wufei's friends," Mariko pouted on Wufei's behalf and Wufei threw her a furious gaze, obviously not appreciating a woman defending him, especially his own mother.

Quatre and Trowa looked like they would have liked to disappear under the table as they sat there either side of Wufei looking anywhere but at the Hino's and Chang's.

"I mean it Wufei, I will not have anyone disrespecting me in my own household," Kayuto ignored Mariko completely his eyes fixed on Wufei, daring Wufei to try and fight his command, and Wufei quite happily took up the challenge. Having seen Rei stand up to Hino before, Wufei wasn't so afraid to do the same.

"I will do what I like, you are not my father, you could never measure up to my father," Wufei retorted coldly and Kayuto shrugged giving a wry laugh.

"I may not be your father but you will respect me," he roared furiously standing up at the table slamming his hands on the surface causing the silverware to clatter.

"I'll respect you in hell," Wufei yelled back performing the same action and Kayuto pointed to the nearest door.

"Go to your room!" he commanded fully expecting obedience and Wufei looked over at Rei and saw her give a small smile of encouragement. Wufei wouldn't let Rei think he was weak.

"Fuck you," Wufei said to Kayuto and his and Mariko's mouths dropped open. Wufei left the table and ever so quietly Quatre and Trowa followed him as Mariko and Kayuto were left in stunned silence.

Rei stood up not knowing what to do, but she did know she would rather go with Wufei and the others, rather than stay here with her father and stepmother. Rei turned and walked towards the door but her father's voice stopped her at the door.

"Bye Kayuto…" Rei looked back at her father tossing her hair behind her with a small smile on her face, and Kayuto's mouth dropped open for that action was exactly what Rei's mother used to do, and he barely noticed as Rei added smartly, "see you tomorrow."

And then Rei too was gone.

"This is her doing, Wufei was always respectful to you," Mariko said putting the blame for the whole episode solely on Rei and Kayuto shook his head trying to focus on Mariko's words.

"Rei? She has only been here not even an hour," Kayuto defended Rei immediately.

"Send her back Kayuto," Mariko pleaded of him coming to stand behind him pacing her hands on his shoulders as she noticed that his gaze was fixed on the picture of his dead wife, hanging on the wall.

"No! She is my daughter, she will stay here with me," Kayuto stood up throwing Mariko's hands off him he stalked off on his own and Mariko's face turned ugly. Hino's brat daughter was starting to really get on her nerves.

"Well that was fun," Rei said, seeing the group of guys standing in the street in front of her house and Heero turned to her with an ugly scowl on his face. Obviously still riled up about dinner.

"What are you doing here? Go back inside," he snapped at her and Rei did her stubborn stance and glared at him defiantly.

"You can't tell me what to do, no one can," she retorted and Heero stared at her, staring into her eyes and Rei stared back. She had had better staring contests with Usagi.

"Let her stay with us Heero, she can come to our secret place," Duo said coming to stand beside Rei. Duo had really taken a liking to her. She was fiery and not afraid of anything, not even her father or Duo's own brother, she was someone Duo could admire, and she was hot.

"Secret place?" Rei repeated and Heero looked to the others who all nodded their acceptance, even Wufei.

"Can you keep a secret?" Heero asked her and Rei smiled thinking about her secret identity and that of her friends. Yes, Rei could keep a secret, she had been keeping one her whole life.

"Yes," Rei replied and Heero nodded, calming down.

"Okay come on," he said turning on his heel then wandered up the street towards a darkly lit mansion at the end of the street where Rei lived, set high upon a hill and Rei couldn't help but smile.

"Wow, how secret, an abandoned mansion on a hill in a rich neighborhood," Rei said jokingly, hoping to lighten the mood and she saw Quatre smile, and Duo grin. Trowa said nothing, but the corners of his mouth twitched. Heero shot her a look she couldn't quite decipher and Wufei snorted with laughter.

"Its not abandoned, my dad owns it, he just doesn't use it," Duo pointed out and Rei smiled at him. Duo sure liked to get straight to the point. It was why she liked him, he was blunt and said what was on his mind. Not many people were open enough to do that nowadays.

They reached the gate that was covered in vines and Heero pushed aside a grate stepping through and he turned back to stare up at Rei with those blue eyes, holding out his hand to help her through as he beckoned,

"Come on, let me show you our secret."


	5. Secrets

Rei didn't hesitate as she reached over and took Heero's hand and allowed him to pull her through the gate. Once they were through the hole in the gate Heero and Rei found themselves in a dark corridor.

"Is this a secret entrance?" she asked fascinated and Heero gave a small smile at her childlike enthrallment.

"Yes," he replied simply and Rei's eyes widened with wonder as Heero started moving along the corridor, not relinquishing his hold on her hand.

Rei wasn't sure whether she should be offended that he thought he could just hold onto her hand without her permission or flattered that Heero wanted to hold her hand.

"The others?" Rei questioned looking back realizing that they were alone in the tunnel but Heero didn't even need to look back.

"Will follow soon, the air in this tunnel is very scarce, we only let two go at a time," he informed her and Rei frowned as her mind started working.

"What happened when there were only five of you?" Rei questioned and she felt Heero's hand stiffen in her own.

"I walked back to pick up the last person," he said distantly and Rei tried to get a look at Heero's face but he hid from her.

"Alone?" Rei asked in disbelief. She was seventeen and she found the tunnel scary when she was with Heero, she couldn't imagine walking this tunnel alone.

"Alone."

"Were you afraid?" Rei asked carefully and Heero stopped his walking to turn back and face her.

"I can't be afraid, I have to look after Duo," he told her his voice strong and Rei gave a half smile.

Heero turned and continued down the tunnel taking Rei along with him. When they finally reached the end of the tunnel they walked through a big wooden door and found themselves in some sort of labyrinth. The stonewalls were tall but parted different ways. Heero though had been here many times before and led Rei confidently through the twists and turns until finally they came to another wooden door. Heero pushed the door open to reveal a huge room, with scrap metal scattered around, the ceiling of this room seemed to reach the sky. On the outside it had looked like the mansion was three stories high, but inside there were no levels, just this room. There was something of a giant nature hidden under a tarp in the centre of the room and at Rei's curious gaze Heero pulled her forward.

"Rei, meet our creations, we call them Gundam's," Heero introduced her as he pulled on the tarp and it fell away to reveal giant metal suits.

Rei couldn't say anything, she just stared open-mouthed at the creations, not believing that young boys could create something as magnificent as this.

"How…" Rei was at a major loss for words but her hands conveyed her bewilderment and Heero smiled.

"My father, once he saw what we were doing in here, he gave us all the metal and money we needed, he hoped to use these in the military once we have tested them out," Heero said shrugging his shoulders and Rei turned wide eyes to him, full of a new respect and wonder.

"Amazing," she breathed and Heero felt himself tingeing red at her praise.

Those violet eyes of her, they were so sincere, so honest, so….

"Aww, you showed her already, I wanted to show Rei mine first," Duo came bounding over to them pouting but his pout melted into a grin when he saw that Heero still had Rei's hand in his. Heero followed his brother's gaze and quickly relieved himself of Rei's hand and Rei blushed bright red. Wufei came following Duo and he folded his arms over his chest.

"Trowa and Quatre are coming," he grunted and Duo went prancing over to what Rei assumed with his Gundam.

"This is mine, I called it Deathscythe," Duo told Rei excitedly and when she cocked her head to one side wondering at the name Duo puffed out his chest proudly and informed her, "father calls me Shinigami, that means the Lord of Death."

"That's…sweet," Rei said, not knowing what else she could say to that. What kind of a father calls his son death? Rei wondered to herself and she turned to Wufei.

"So which one is yours?"

Wufei grunted and walked over to one of the metal suits and placed a hand on its enormous leg.

"Shenlong is mine," he said possessively and Rei smiled at his tone, amused at his affection for metal.

"And you?" she asked of Heero and Heero nodded at the one closest to him.

"Wing Zero."

Trowa and Quatre entered the room at that moment and went to stand by their Gundams.

"Sandrock," Quatre said tapping his Gundam lightly and Trowa did the same to his,

"Gundam Heavyarms."

Rei gave a whistle of appreciation.

"Wow, where do I get one," she joked and Quatre and Duo both smiled.

The silence was interrupted by the ringing of Wufei's cell phone that he flipped open and tossed to Rei.

"Its your father," he muttered and Rei pressed the phone to her ear.

"What do you want?" Rei demanded annoyed at her father for ruining her day, again and Kayuto was heard to sigh deeply on the other end of the phone.

"I understand you are upset, but can you please come home now, it is a school night, and it's late," Kayuto asked and Rei considered his request and realized he was right.

"All right, we will be back soon," she replied and before her father could speak she slammed the phone shut and tossed it back to Wufei.

"Going so soon?" Wufei smirked at her and Rei raised an eyebrow at him.

"We're going so soon you mean, we have school tomorrow," Rei said daring Wufei to challenge her and Wufei stepped up to the challenge.

"No onna, will tell me when to go!" Wufei roared furiously but Heero stepped between them.

"Enough, Rei is right, its time to go," Heero said in a voice that held no room for argument and Rei looked over at Heero but he wasn't looking at her, he was looking at Duo's drooping face.

"I'll go with Wufei," Rei volunteered so hero could walk with Duo and Heero finally looked over at her and Rei couldn't quite decipher the look he gave her.

"Very well," he conceded and waving their goodbyes Rei and Wufei wandered back through the labyrinth together and raced each other home.

Lying in her bed Rei was nearly asleep when she heard the door to her bedroom open and someone walk inside.

"My little girl," someone whispered but Rei pretended to be asleep and she felt something press against her cheek and then something fluffy by her head.

She waited until she heard her bedroom door close then she opened her eyes to see a stuffed panda next to her. A stuffed panda that she used to cherish as a child. Her father must have kept it for her all these years. Rei sighed deeply snuggling with her panda, wondering against her better judgment if her father had finally regained his heart.


	6. School

Chapter 6 - School

AN: I know Heero is very out of character. But basically I have changed the origin of the Gundams. At the moment Heero and the others have not been through the war, so they are different, at the moment they are just a couple of teenagers. But things will change.

Rei awoke to the sun dancing on her face and she sat up yawning.

"Rise and shine sleepy head!" Mariko came waltzing into the room and Rei rolled her eyes at this effort of maternal instincts and fell back onto her fluffy pillow.

Mariko saw this and wandered over peering down at Rei who had her eyes closed pretending Mariko didn't exist.

"Rei, come child you need to get up and get ready for school," Mariko's voice was sickly sweet as she smiled down at Rei, and Mariko reached out to touch Rei's forehead and as Mariko's cool fingers touched her Rei shuddered involuntarily her eyes snapping open in shock.

"Don't touch me," Rei hissed sitting up and inching away from Mariko as far as her bed would allow.

"Very well," Mariko said without another word she shuffled out of the room, turning at the door to look back at Rei with some sort of smirk that Rei didn't appreciate.

"Ugh, she gives me the creeps," Rei muttered crawling out of her bed and stretching her arms above her head walking to her door to make sure Mariko had gone.

"At least you aren't related to her," Wufei nearly scared her to death when he pushed by her and strolled into her room uninvited.

Rei stared at him as though he was an apparition and realizing he wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon she shrugged and shut her door behind him.

"Don't you people knock?" she asked him taking a dig and Wufei merely smiled,

"Nope," he replied obnoxiously sitting on one of her chairs crossing his arms grinning knowing it would annoy her.

Rei felt like she was going to explode with rage at the injustice of it all but one look at Wufei's smirking face and she just gave up and eyed him suspiciously.

"What do you want?" Rei demanded hands on her hips.

"Its not about what I want," Wufei replied smoothly and Rei was a bit surprised by that response.

"Excuse me?"

"Heero sent me an sms last night, he wanted to know if you had a boyfriend," Wufei revealed and Rei stumbled backwards to fall into a sitting position on her bed.

"Heero?" she breathed, not really believing it, but really wanting to.

"Yeah," Wufei confirmed then he grinned wider, "So do you?"

"No but…why would it matter?" Rei asked a little concerned. She had only been there one day; Heero couldn't have decided he liked her in one day, that's not how it went. Liking someone took time, they had to get to know each other first, and after a few weeks of flirting he would ask her to the movies, and then to dinner, and then finally after a month or so of flirting around with each other he would confess he liked her. But then Rei remembered that feeling in the pit of her stomach when she had held onto Heero's hand and wondered briefly if there was such a thing as love at first sight, or at least like at first sight.

"I was beginning to wonder the same thing, but I think he likes you because your…spunky I guess would be the word, and you stand up to your father, its…admirable, or so I'd imagine Heero thinks so," Wufei covered his compliments well using Heero as his excuse and Rei raised an eyebrow, flattered that Heero seemed to be interested in her. She had fallen asleep thinking about his intense blue eyes.

"That's unexpected," Rei said giving half a smile and Wufei peered at her face and pursed his lips.

"Yea…look Rei, Heero's my friend and I'm sure on first meeting he seems very mysterious and all but for your own good, don't get involved with him," Wufei told her bluntly and Rei frowned at him.

"Why not?"

"He's a distant sort of guy, he keeps to himself, I've seen girls fall for him and then get their hearts broken because he can't be who they want him to be and its not fair, and besides I gotta look out for you I guess, you're my sister after all," Wufei tried to explain his concerns and Rei looked at him in a new light and had to admit that something good was coming out of her fathers marriage. She was getting a brother who cared. It was strange but welcome.

"Hey when is the wedding anyway?" Rei changed the subject quickly and Wufei frowned growling his response.

"Next month."

"Yippee!" Rei cheered sarcastically and Wufei gave her an amused look.

"I know what you mean," he agreed and Rei looked at her bedside alarm clock then back at him.

"Okay get out I need to get ready for school,"

Wufei made to leave but at the door stopped to turn and look at her.

"Rei remember what I said," Wufei bade her and Rei nodded but her smile told a different story.

"Thanks for your concern Wufei, but I like to make my own choices," Rei told him as politely as she could. She really did appreciate he was worried about her, but Rei was a big girl, she had been taking care of herself for years.

"I noticed," Wufei remarked and Rei puffed out her chest imitating her father.

"Yeah I'm a Hino, runs in my blood."

Rei's father drove Wufei and Rei to school in their limo and the silence in the limo as so think you could cut it with a knife. Obviously Kayuto hadn't quite forgiving Wufei and Rei for running out on dinner the night before and Rei and Wufei didn't care if he spoke to them or not. As the limo came to a halt outside their school Wufei got out and Rei went to follow but Kayuto grabbed her hand.

"Did you want me to come with you?" he asked her and Rei wrenched her arm from his grasp shaking her head.

"I can manage," she retorted flicking her hair over her shoulder as she spat, "I never needed you all my life, I don't need you now."

The door to the limo slammed shut and Rei and Wufei watched the limo drive off. Wufei returned to Rei and held out his hand for a high five that Rei happily gave.

School hadn't quite started yet so people were just milling around, talking in their specific groups and Rei was suddenly aware how prestigious this school was. Everyone seemed so refined, and Rei gathered all of them were from rich families. Quatre and Trowa were sitting on the grass, Quatre with his head buried in a book, and Trowa just staring off into the distance. Wufei and Rei went to join them and Rei sat next to Quatre who blushed bright red.

"What you reading?" she enquired and Quatre showed her the book.

"Angels and Demons, have you read it?"

"Yeah, I loved it…"

Quatre and Rei began a conversation about the book discussing their views on certain subjects tackled in the book and Quatre was quite impressed with her knowledge. Wufei looked at Quatre and Rei and rolled his eyes at Trowa who smirked at him. Suddenly Duo came running over calling out Rei's name.

"Rei, Rei!"

Everyone around started looking in their general direction and Rei felt all self-conscious wishing she could hide from the embarrassment of being stared at.

"Hey Duo," Rei greeted him in a quiet voice hoping he would get the point but Duo was all excited and didn't notice.

"Heero hacked into the school database, you're in all the same classes, so you can hang with Heero all day, and then after school you can come to…" Heero came up behind his younger brother and clamped a hand over his mouth silencing the younger boy quickly, before he said anything else.

"Duo, shut up," Heero told his brother and Duo broke free of Heero's grasp looking somewhat hurt that Heero had spoken to him like that. Heero was like Duo's personal…well hero; to have Heero talk to him like that was unusual and hurtful.

With a tear in the corner of his eye Duo turned on his heel and ran off.

"Smooth Heero," Wufei taunted Heero shaking his head. Sure Duo annoyed the hell out of Wufei, but he was younger than them, like the baby brother to all of them. They were so used to seeing him happy, it was sad to see him unhappy.

Heero opened his mouth to reply but then looked at Rei. Rei felt so horrible for Duo, knowing he had only been trying to make her feel better, and her face mirrored her pity so when Heero looked at her all he saw was sadness and he couldn't speak, overcome by embarrassment.

Just in time, the bell rang and Trowa, Quatre and Wufei went to their respective classes and Rei stood up and moved closer to Heero.

"Well, lead on McDuff," Rei said cheerily and Heero half smiled, glad that she didn't turn away from him because he had snapped at his brother. Heero hadn't slept well the night before and that made him grumpy today. He kept seeing visions of fighting, people dying and lastly he dreamed of wide violet eyes, crying for him.

Rei and Heero were inseparable the whole day, much to the disgruntlement of the other class members, all of whom were really interested to meet the daughter of the famous politician Kayuto Hino. But Heero was protective and wouldn't let anyone near her, and Rei appreciated it. She wasn't ready to deal with new people. At lunch they sat with the other guys who had saved them seats. When they got there Duo was sitting with Wufei and after a few quick words Duo and Heero made up with a hug. Rei looked around the lunchroom and noticed that no girls had actually introduced themselves to her. Most were staring jealousy and Rei realized that the four boys she was sitting with were actually really popular with the ladies, and she was sitting with them. Rei had generally tried to keep out of everyone's way, not really wanting to divert any unnecessary attention on herself. So it was no surprise really that she hadn't actually met any other girls at her school, that is until a girl with long brown hair came bearing down upon her.

"Hi you must be Rei Hino, I'm Relena Dorlian," the girl was pumping Rei's hand up and down before Rei even released she had given her hand to her. The girl sat down next to Rei at the lunch table and turned her wide eyes to Heero.

"Hi Heero," she breathed dreamily fluttering her eyelashes at him and Heero grunted looking away while Duo coughed and made a crazy sign beside his head. Wufei rolled his eyes, Trowa smirked and Quatre…he buried his head in a book.

"Hi," she replied although it was clear Relena's attention was not on her.

"Anyway, gotta go," Relena packed up her things and was gone before Rei knew what had happened and the guys burst into laughter.

Rei didn't exactly know what it meant but she laughed with them, although the meeting still bothered her. Why did that girl look at Heero like that?

The day ended blissfully and quickly. After school, the guys and Rei made a deal to meet each other in half an hour at the entrance to the mansion and instead of going home Rei and Wufei decided a bit of shopping would be better than facing their parents.

AN: I think I wrote this chapter rather badly, But its Thursday afternoon and I am sleepy. I think I might need someone to check through my stuff from now on to make sure if it is worth it. If anyone could help me out with my rambling crap that would be much appreciated, just to check it make sense before I post it that would be much appreciated. Email me if you can help me: 

BTW thank you everyone for your reviews, I'm so glad you all are enjoying the story, I have another one on the way, I think its heaps better than this one, but I have put my foot down and I have to finish this one first. Thanks for reading and please enjoy!


	7. Shopping

Chapter 7 - Shopping

Rei and Wufei were wandering aimlessly through the shops, stopping to look at a few items of clothing, neither really that interested in shopping; they just wanted to waste time. Rei had other things on her mind, like Relena and hero. She couldn't figure out why exactly it was bothering her so much, maybe because she didn't know what had happened between the two and it was driving her bananas! Rei couldn't take her curiosity anymore and so tried to sound really inconspicuous when she asked,

"Hey Wufei, who was that girl today? The one who came up to us at lunch."

Wufei smirked widely stopping by the fountain in the middle of the shopping centre to sit on the edge looking up at Rei.

"I wondered when your curiosity would kick in. Relena is Heero's ex girlfriend four times over," Wufei revealed and Rei frowned in confusion. Four times over?

"What does that even mean?" Rei prompted him and Wufei rolled his eyes at her naivety.

"It means they got together and broke up four times so far," Wufei explained simply and Rei's eyes widened it surprise.

"Four times?"

"Yeah, like I said, a relationship with Heero isn't very stable, a girl thinks she can handle it, then a few weeks pass and she realizes she can't handle it at all, well Relena made that mistake four times," Wufei chuckled thinking of Relena but Rei didn't find it all that funny. Suddenly she was worried that Heero wasn't interested in her.

"Oh, do you think he really likes her?" Rei asked in a small voice and Wufei was serious when he heard the note of disappointment in her voice.

"I doubt it, he probably only dated her because it would make his father happy, Relena is from one of the richest families in the area, I hear tell she is distantly related to royalty," Wufei said trying to make her feel better, but Rei only felt worse. How could her lining compare to a relation with royalty? Rei could tell Relena was rich, she was beautiful, sophisticated, everything a young lady was meant to be, and Rei…Rei had been too busy fighting youma to learn about being a young lady. The closest thing she had gotten to being a lady was at the Princess School with the other girls, but that had ended with a youma nearly defeating them and turning Mako and Ami into wax forever. If it hadn't been for Minako, Usagi and Rei's clumsiness they may never have won the battle.

"I see," Rei said quietly and Wufei watched her pretty face droop and he folded his arms across his chest.

"I've never seen him look at her the way he looks at you," Wufei said his voice turning harsh, embarrassed at having to say such a romantically corny thing.

Rei blushed prettily appreciating his effort and she ruffled Wufei's hair affectionately much to his disgruntlement.

"If my friends were here they would know exactly what to do about this," Rei said a bit down heartened missing her friends and Wufei was surprised as she hadn't mentioned them at all until now. Rei had kept anything from her old life pretty much to herself.

"Friends?" Wufei repeated and Rei laughed at his expression.

"Yes Wufei, as unbelievable as it may be, the spawn of the devil has friends, good friends in fact, four of them," Rei enlightened him as she counted their names off against her fingers, "Minako, Usagi, Ami and Makoto."

"They will be coming to the wedding no doubt?" Wufei began to get this strange look on his face and Rei wasn't quite sure she liked it.

"Of course."

"Excellent," Wufei leered, a grin on his face as he imagined what Rei's friends would look like. Maybe he would find a girl himself from among Rei's friends and if she were hot and able to stand up to him, perhaps he would finally find someone worthy of being his girlfriend. Rei was watching his dazzled face of joy and screwed up her nose with distaste as she realized what he was thinking.

"Wufei, stop with that look, ugh," Rei felt nauseous at the thought that Wufei was contemplating hitting on her girlfriends.

"Fine sorry," Wufei said, although the grin never left his face much to Rei's annoyance.

Great, now she would have to protect her friends from her new letch of a brother. Rei was suddenly struck by the thought that already she had begun thinking of Wufei as a brother and to her surprise that didn't disturb her at all.

"We're late," Wufei urged Rei to hurry up as they scurried down their street towards the mansion on a hill. In the distance they could see Heero and Duo, right on time, and Quatre and Trowa were just arriving.

"Well if you hadn't stopped to look at that Sailor V doll…" Rei retorted and Wufei's ears burned red with the embarrassment.

"I was not looking at the doll…I was looking at something else," Wufei tried to hide his interest in the short skirted female warrior and Rei chuckled at his expense.

"Yeah sure Wuffie, something else," Rei mocked him and Wufei suddenly froze where he stood, just at the driveway to the mansion.

"Onna! You do not call me Wuffie!" he growled at her, the joking brother she had been with all day was gone and replaced by a young man fuelled by anger, reminding her of how he had been yesterday at dinner.

"Why not Wuffie?" Rei asked sweetly fluttering her eyelashes and Wufei seemed ready to explode, and he did a few seconds later.

"Because I was given my father's name and I will not let it be slandered by a woman the way my father allowed his to be slandered by my mother!"

After his outburst Wufei stood there gulping deep breathes of air. Rei stood there open-mouthed not realizing there has been so much history and she felt absolutely terrible. She should have thought about that before she let her mouth open.

"Oh Wufei, I'm sorry I had no idea you felt so strongly…" Rei moved to apologize, meaning every word but Wufei couldn't control his anger so instead stormed off, back to their home.

Oh God, Rei thought a tear falling from her eyes, what have I done this time?

"She hurt him," a voice from beside her said and Rei didn't need to turn to know Heero was standing beside her.

"Mariko?" Rei hazarded a guess and Heero grunted to confirm she was right.

"Yes, he would have loved her if she had allowed it but her greed for power consumes her and forbade her to care for him. His father was not a rich man but he was proud and formidable much like Wufei, he was the head of a tribe of warriors, masters of the martial arts, and when Mariko and Wufei's father had met quite by chance one day, he had given up his duty and followed Mariko across the country to be with her. He loved her and perhaps she loved him and they married, but when she betrayed him not one year into their marriage, Wufei's father was too embarrassed to return to his people and so committed suicide, throwing himself from their balcony, Wufei was only a baby at the time," Heero revealed the story knowing that as Wufei's sister this was something Rei would have to know to be able to understand why Wufei was the way he was.

"That's terrible," Rei breathed and Heero bowed his head.

"Yes."

"She betrayed him how?" Rei asked remembering looking to Heero for an answer but his eyes were glazed over in pain, much to Rei's concern.

"Enough," Heero muttered softly, but firmly in a voice that held no room for argument and Rei was quiet as Duo, Trowa and Quatre approached them.

"Hey bro, where did Wufei go?" Duo asked curiously, having seen the young man stomp off in a huff, angry about something Rei had said to him.

"Home Duo, which is where you should be going too," Heero said giving Duo a steely gave when he pouted.

"But I thought we were going to work on the 'you know what's'," Duo made a show of whispering and in spite of her sadness Rei had to smile at his cuteness. For a young man only one year younger than them, he sure seemed like a kid most of the time.

"Another time Duo, its been a long day," Heero informed his younger brother who shrugged, eyeing both Heero and Rei suspiciously before smiling brightly.

"Okay," he agreed without further fuss and Trowa and Quatre nodded their heads agreeing although both had these silly smiles on their faces noticing that Heero had made no plans to move anywhere away from Rei.

"See you at school tomorrow Trowa, and you too Quatre," Rei said to the two boys forcing a pleasant smile and the two boys nodded towards her.

"Bye Heero, bye Rei," Quatre called out waving to them both as he joined Duo who had already started walking down the road.

Trowa merely waved his farewell and wandered down the street with Duo in the middle of Quatre and himself.

Alone with Heero, despite her worry for Wufei, Rei couldn't help noticing certain things about him. The way his hair brushed into his eyes, the way he looked at her with those intense blue eyes, and they way he gave her a half smile, reaching over to wipe away any remaining tears she might have had.

"I will walk you home," Heero offered and Rei was thankful.

"Thank you," Rei said and her heart nearly skipped a beat when Heero reached down and took her hand quickly and without any fuss.

"Are you okay?" he asked turning to look at her as they walked slowly side-by-side, hands held.

"I just feel so terrible," Rei told him, flooding of guilt flowing back to her.

"You couldn't have known," Heero told her and Rei shrugged.

"I know, but still, he seemed so hurt."

"Wufei is proud and strong, he will be all right," Heero said surely and Rei wanted to believe him so much. They had reached Rei's front door by that time and at the door Heero' dropped Rei's hand.

"Thank you Heero for telling me about Wufei, it helps me understand a lot of things better, especially my new brother-to-be," Rei said meaning every word and Heero gave her this lopsided grin, a half smile.

"You're welcome Rei," he replied softly, as his head bent down towards hers. Rei didn't move, wanting his lips on hers just as she had been dreaming about them the night before. When their lips touched, it was all Rei could do not to melt into his arms. His one hand had snaked around her waist and was pulling her body close to his, pressing her against him and the other hand had captured the side of her face gently stroking her cheek as they kissed. Rei's arms automatically encircled Heero's waist, and the two explored each other's mouths for the next few moments until hero finally pulled away breathing hurriedly, in quick breathes.

"Goodnight Rei," he bade her leaning forward to steal another kiss before striding off down the street, Heero's house was further down and it couldn't be seen from Rei's house but she stood there watching him go, until she couldn't see his imposing back any more and she floated through her front door.

Rei was lucky enough not to have to deal with her father or Mariko, as Grimsy was quick to inform her that they had been called to a previous engagement planned before her arrival. Not that Rei cared. Upon asking the whereabouts of Wufei, she was told she would find him where he always was, the basement.

"Wufei, I'm sorry," Rei said walking through the door to find Wufei sitting on the edge of the bench press, not working out, just sitting.

"I shouldn't have overreacted," he murmured a little embarrassed at his behavior and Rei laughed softly.

"I guess we were both wrong," she amended and Wufei gave her a weak smile as she came to sit next to him.

Rei stared at Wufei and noted that his face still wore the pained expression, speaking of his mother and what she had done had disturbed him greatly. Even now he wouldn't relax in Rei's presence as he had done earlier that day.

"You can't blame all women for what your mother did," Rei pointed out, not meaning to sound lecturing, but her comment caused Wufei more pain, as he stood up and started pacing, shaking his head.

"You don't understand Rei, how could you possibly understand?" Wufei asked more to himself than to her and Rei was frustrated with all the secrets. She had known there was something else, and it bothered Wufei something chronic.

"Understand what?" Rei enquired and Wufei took a deep breath shaking his head.

"Ask Heero Rei, ask him why I hate women so much," Wufei spat at her, not meaning to sound so hateful, but once the words were out of his mouth he couldn't take them back, even though one look at Rei's sad face made him want to.

"He told me already, because your mother's betrayal caused your father to kill himself," Rei replied softly, not wanting to get Wufei more upset than he already was.

"I hate her!" Wufei screamed with rage picking up the nearest weight and hurling it at the closest mirror, shattering the wall mirror so the pieces crashed to the ground making a loud sound. Rei froze not moving, suddenly feeling a little afraid of him.

"Wufei," Rei asked in a small voice and Wufei turned to her in shock realizing he had frightened her. But he wouldn't have hurt her, it wasn't her fault, it was his mother's.

"That's only half of it, the other half is the betrayal and all the damage it has done to my life, ask Heero about Mariko, ask him why he hates her as much as I do," Wufei urged Rei who sighed deeply .She had tried to get the information out of Heero but he wouldn't reveal anything.

"Why don't you just tell me?" Rei pleaded wanting so much to understand why they all hated Mariko so much.

"You really want to know?" Wufei asked and Rei nodded adding sarcastically,

"I asked didn't I?"

Wufei gave her a stern look as though deciding whether to tell her or not. Rei stared up at him proudly, her expression hiding nothing, just full of confusion. Wufei seemed to deicide it was all right to tell her and so began to tell her the long awaited secret.

"My mother, Mariko, is…"

The phone started ringing and Wufei broke off and pick up the phone off the wall of the basement hissing into the receiver, "what is it?"

There was silence on the other end for a few moments and then Heero's voice spoke, and his voice was shaky which was unusual.

"Its Duo, he's been hit by a car."


	8. Hospital Blues

Chapter 7 – Hospital Blues

AN: HI everyone, I am sorry to have left it at a cliffhanger like that. But you're all still here so it must have been a good thing! Thanks for the reviews; it makes me keep going with this story truly! Every time I sneak on to the net and work and see how many people want to know more about what happens, I get inspired. I know Heero, doesn't seem as distant as Wufei says but I am basing him on my ex boyfriend, who comes on really fast, but then once he has you is really distant and doesn't tell you much at all.

Wufei dropped the phone from his hand and barely heard Rei's voice asking him what was wrong. He turned to her, his eyes blank with shock.

"Duo's been hit by a car," Wufei repeated stonily and Rei gasped in shock covering her mouth, her eyes wide.

Of all the people in the world, why did it have to be cheery Duo who bore the brunt of the evil in this universe? It wasn't fair. He was a good kid.

"I'm going to the hospital," Wufei grabbed his jacket as he started striding towards the door but stopped when he realized he had Rei hanging onto his arm.

"Wait I'm coming with you," Rei said reaching for her coat but Wufei's eyes were cold.

"This does not concern you," he told her sternly and Rei tilted her chin defiantly at him.

"Yes it does, Duo is my friend," Rei retorted and Wufei nodded his head, not wanting to waste time arguing.

"Come on," he said and as they were running down the stairs the doorbell rang and giving each other strange looks Rei ran to the door and flung it wide open, gaping at the sight before her.

"Surprise!" Mako, Ami, Minako and Usagi all screamed happily rushing to burry Rei in a bundle of hugs and Rei was too stunned to resist, her mind numb from the shock of Duo being hurt and then her friends turning up on her doorstep.

"What are you…how did you get here?" Rei asked and Usagi laughed hugging Rei again for good luck.

"Your father came to get us, he pulled some strings so that we could be exchange students at your school, for a little while anyway," Ami explained quite simply and all at once Rei was suspicious. Rei knew the saying well, beware of Greeks bearing gifts, and in this situation her father was very much a Greek.

"Why would he do that?" Rei asked tightly and Usagi laughed shaking her head.

"Because he loves you!" Usagi said as though it were the most obvious thing in the word and Rei made a face at the thought.

"He only loves himself," Rei assured them when she noticed Wufei sneaking passed in the shadows and thinking of Duo and idea struck Rei as she grabbed Usagi's hand.

"Have you got your Crystal Princess?" Re whispered urgently and when Usagi nodded Rei grabbed her by the wrist and starting leading her down the street after Wufei.

"Duo needs you," Rei said and Usagi was pleased she could help someone.

After Rei had filled all the girls in on what had happened the last two days, bar revealing the Gundam's to them, they were all a mite teary eyed at the thought of Duo in a hospital bed. In the waiting room stood Quatre and Trowa silent tears running down their cheeks. Heero stood on his own, stiff as a board. Rei went over to him first and tried to talk to him but he ignored her.

"Heero, did you want to talk about it?" Rei asked sweetly her voice light and caring.

"I should have been there protecting him Rei, I should have been there," Heero told her through clenched teeth, his voice choked with raw emotion.

"You couldn't have known Heero," Rei tried to take some off the blame off him but Heero wouldn't hear of it.

"This won't happen again, I won't let it, I am gonna be the perfect soldier," he swore looking into Rei's eyes and Rei saw a coldness she hadn't noticed before.

A doctor came walking from Duo's room and he shook his head at the waiting crowd.

"I can let only family in there," the doctor said solemnly and Heero was running forward in a moment and the doctor looked him up and down with distaste asking snidely, "and who might you be?"

"I'm his brother," Heero hissed threateningly and the doctor gave a wry smile.

"Good try, but the only people who will be going into see the young boy are his parents," the doctor retorted not having time to deal with some young man and hearing his words Wufei came rushing forward and the doctor felt something cold on his neck.

"We're all his brother's," Wufei informed the doctor, his katana pressed against the good doctor's throat and a nurse saw him and let out an almighty scream.

Ami, Minako, Mako and Usagi would have screamed as well but the nurse had beat them too it and at Rei's nod they faced their fears and went to stand with the boys, joining their cause. If Rei trusted these boys they would to.

"And sisters," Rei said smiling sweetly at the doctor who gulped slowly and carefully not wanting to cut his throat on Wufei's katana.

The 9 of them including the scared doctor backed towards the door to the hall where Duo's room would be and Quatre looked around and decided to make the first move.

"Let's go, follow me," Quatre said suddenly taking charge of the situation and he went bounding into the corridor scouting the names on the wall for Duo. Trowa quickly began checking the other side and Wufei kept a firm hold on the doctor. Heero has quite calmly taken out his gun and trained in on anyone who decided to come too close.

"Over there," Trowa told them pointing and the boys and girls ran into Duo's room slamming the door behind them and locking, throwing the petrified doctor into a corner with Wufei keeping an eye on him.

"Duo!" Heero cried out his brother's name running to his bedside but Duo didn't stir. Duo looked so deathly pace, his face was bruised and one of his arms and one of his legs was in a cast. There was a bandaged wrapped around his bed, red blood slipping through the folds.

"What's the matter with him?" Heero demanded of the doctor who looked at him almost pityingly.

"He's in a coma, he probably won't wake up, that's why i couldn't let you in," the doctor told him bluntly and Heero turned back towards his little brother and sat on the chair beside his bed taking his brother's hand.

"Duo, no," came Heero's tortured whisper and Rei had seen enough. Usagi could help Duo; the Silver Crystal could help Duo.

"Let me," Usagi said stepping forward seeing the sorrow in Heero's eyes and Heero looked up at her, his ice eyes colder than winter and he pulled out his gun again aiming it at her head. Usagi stopped with her smile plastered on her face and looked helplessly to Rei as Mako stepped in front of Usagi, blocking her from the gun. Ami was frowning at Heero disapprovingly and Minako was watching Wufei, feeling a bit worried for the doctor.

"Heero step back," Rei asked him in a small voice and Heero didn't even look at her to reply.

"No."

"Please," Rei begged but Heero wouldn't even look at her, and from the obnoxious tilt of his jaw, Rei could see that his mind was stubbornly set and she wouldn't be able to change it. .

"No, you don't even belong here, get out!" he said coldly and Rei felt like he had slapped her in the face. Rei walked beside him her hand reaching for the vase of flowers sitting on the beside table behind his head.

"I really am sorry about this," she said and before anyone could react Rei had smashed the vase on Heero's head and he had dropped like a bag of potatoes. Mako and Minako had seen it coming and both moved to restrain Trowa and Quatre who were both too shocked to resist, their mouths hanging open. Ami stood behind Usagi to protect her from any attacks from behind.

"Rei, what are you doing?" Wufei asked knowing no one had moved to stop him. And Rei looked at him with her wide violet eyes.

"Trust me Wufei, we know what we are doing," Rei said and Usagi came forward, looking down at Duo as she pulled out a brightly shining crystal.

"Cosmic Moon Power!" Usagi breathed and a flashing pink light filled the room, blinding all present. The light disappeared just as police burst through the door and Duo's eyes flew open.

Much to everyone's surprise bar the girls, Duo sat up scratching his head looking around taking in the scene before him. There was Rei standing over his brother's unconscious body with pieces of a shattered vase on the floor around him. Two girls he had never seen before were restraining Trowa and Quatre in headlocks, and Wufei was in the corner, threatening a doctor with his katana. Duo looked to his left and saw a girl with blue hair standing behind the most beautiful girl Duo had ever seen in his life. She seemed to be glowing in a white light and smiled down at him weekly and Duo blinked once not believing his eyes.

"Are you an angel?" he asked Usagi who giggled lightly before fainting into Ami's waiting arms and the police starting grabbing everyone much to Duo's confusion. .

Kayuto and Mariko were relaxing on a chaise in their living room, having just heard about Duo's accident from Quatre's father. Kayuto was sitting and Mariko was organizing tea for the both of them.

"It was a very good idea Mariko, bringing her friends, she will be happier I think," Kayuto said speaking of Rei and Mariko smiled widely, happy to have pleased him so much.

"We can only hope," Mariko agreed but silently Mariko thought to herself, and lets hope she stays out of my way.

Kayuto looked at his wife-to-be and noticed that she seemed quite subdued and a lot quieter than usual. She had been that way since they had heard about Duo's accident. Kayuto had been digging about his wife's past, and had heard some interesting rumors regarding young Duo and his phantom mother. Kayuto was not a stupid man, he was smart and he had his suspicions his wife-to-be hadn't told him the truth about her past.

"You are upset about Duo yes?" Kayuto asked curiously and Mariko froze in the middle of putting sugar into her coffee. She recovered quickly but Kayuto had seen her.

"Of course, he is just a young boy," Mariko tried disguise her reply with a shrug but Kayuto had seen through it and his eyes narrowed.

"Nothing else?" he prompted and Mariko turned to him smiling.

"No, of course not my love," she assured him, ad Kayuto stared long and hard at her.

If she says there is nothing else, then I must believe her, Kayuto told himself although he didn't quite think that was right. He couldn't exactly call her out, or she would know he had been digging around for information on her.

The phone rang interrupting the conversation and Kayuto picked up the phone before Mariko could.

"This is Kayuto Hino," he barked into the phone gruffly and paused a few moments, his face turning white as he listened to what the other person on the end of the line had to say.

Mariko watched Kayuto's face as listened and wondered what could have possibly gotten him in such a foul mood with one phone call. Kayuto was nodding is head now, the conversation coming to an end.

"Of course, i will be right there," Kayuto, snapped slamming the phone down.

"Kayuto what's the matter?" Mariko asked barely containing her curiosity and Kayuto looked at her scathingly.

"The matter?" he repeated softly then his eyes bulged with rage as he yelled, "Rei and Wufei have just been arrested!"


	9. Jail House Rock

Chapter 7 – Jail House Rock

AN: Aww, so many people have guessed the secret… that's okay, it was bound to come out sooner or later. Umm, for those who still haven't worked it out, I think I should be revealing it in this chapter maybe…I'm not sure cos I haven't written it yet lol. But after Rei finds out the secret, things get exciting (Well I haven't actually written it but I have it all planned in my head what is going to happen), cos Mariko is going to stop at nothing to make sure Rei's father never finds out that little secret. This is a pretty boring chapter to be honest…

"Heero, are you okay?"

"Hn."

"Please Heero just talk to me."

"Hn."

"At least me know if you're okay."

"Hn."

Rei gave a deep sigh, knowing she wouldn't be able to get Heero to talk to her any time soon. She leaned back against the steel metal rods that formed her prison cell. They were at the police station down town, the boys were in one holding cell and the girls were in the other. Rei was sitting on the metal chair closest to the boys cell trying unsuccessfully to see if Heero was okay after she hit him over the head with a vase. Minako was sitting next to her holding Rei's hand and smiling at her comfortingly. Mako and Usagi were playing a game of thumb wrestles, but because Mako was stronger she kept winning, much to Usagi's dismay. Ami was faring the worst out of the girls. She was freaking out about what her mother would think of all this. The boys, bar Duo who was still at the hospital, were all melancholy. Heero sat as far away as he could from the girls cell. Quatre and Trowa were standing together, eyeing Usagi, Mako and Minako suspiciously. They had been there, they had seen the miracle Usagi had done with that crystal and they wanted some answers, but they knew now was neither the time and definitely not the place to be getting them. Wufei was sitting on the floor in a meditation position, focusing all his energy. Rei may not have known it yet but Wufei knew Kayuto Hino enough to know that they would all get out of this unscathed, but Kayuto would be furious for a week, he would be a walking demon man, and Wufei needed the calming meditation to be able to deal with the Hino Demon.

"So who are you girls?" Quatre finally got curious enough to ask and Wufei opened his eyes and turned his attention to the girls. He had been wondering the exact same thing. Rei smiled widely standing to introduce her friends.

"These are my best friends in the whole entire world, Mako Kino is the brunette over there playing thumb wars, then Ami Mizuno is the one sitting in the corner, Usagi Tsukino is the blonde with spaghetti and meatballs hair…" Rei paused knowing Usagi would have a cry, and she wasn't disappointed.

"Rei… stop making fun of me…waaaa…" Usagi let out a wail that could have rivaled a banshee and everyone covered their ears until her whining died down when Mako gave Rei a stern look.

"Stop teasing her Rei you know she can't resist," Mako said reproachfully and Rei shrugged winking at Usagi.

"And the one next to me is Minako Aino," Rei finally completed her side of the introductions and Quatre bowed his head at them all.

"Quatre Raberba Winner," he introduced himself, urging the boys to do the same.

"Trowa Barton."

"Wufei Chang…" Wufei looked over at Heero who hadn't moved at all and he jerked his head towards Heero adding, "And that one is Heero Yuu."

Pleasantries were exchanged despite them all being introduced in such a strange circumstance. Trowa seemed like he had something to ask and after a few minutes he asked the question.

"What did you do to Duo?" he asked in his soft way and Usagi shrugged her slim shoulders, smiling sweetly.

"He will be fine, perfectly fine and healthy, fully healed, that's all you need to know right?" Usagi asked innocently and Trowa felt a little bit sheepish for demanding things of her. Wufei however had to such qualms.

"But how did you do it? That crystal…we all saw it, what did you do?" Wufei persisted and Rei looked over at him shaking her head as she could sense someone was coming.

"This is not the time," she told everyone darkly looking over towards the door to the outside apprehensively.

The door to the cells opened to reveal Kayuto Hino stalking in, with the police chief lapping at his heels.

"I completely understand, and thank you for being discreet," Kayuto was saying and the police chief was nodding his head.

"No problems Mr Hino," he confirmed leading him to the cells and Kayuto turned to look and first eyed the boys and then the girls, all stood up to greet him, heads bowed ashamed.

"All right, who was the ring leader of this little fiasco," Kayuto asked his voice menacing and Rei took a deep breath.

"I was," she replied quickly. Her father already hated her existence, it didn't matter if he thought she was a teenage deviant.

"No, Rei had nothing to do with it, it was my fault," Wufei retorted over Rei's claim and Kayuto raised an eyebrow. Wufei was protecting Rei. The information made him frown wondering how they could have gotten so close so fast. He would have to keep an eye on that. The last thing he needed was a scandal where half-brother and half-sister elope to get married. The press would have a field day with that one.

"Duo is my brother, I started it," Heero finally spoke, and Kayuto looked over at him. Kayuto knew it had been Wufei who started it according to the doctor he spoke to, but he hadn't expected the others to try and take the fall for something Wufei had done. Kayuto made a note to get rid of Wufei's katanas when they got home.

"He's my friend, I did it," Quatre said, even though everyone smirked. Quatre was just too nice a guy to start harassing a doctor in a hospital, unless the others put him up to it as they did tonight.

"No, I did," Trowa said softly and they girls all looked at each other.

"We did it," Usagi said, her angelic eyes lighting up with amusement and Kayuto shook his head at their silliness, knowing none would tell the truth.

"All right, lets go everyone," he said turning on his heel and leaving the room as the cell doors slid open to let them out.

They all walked out slowly looking at each other, knowing the ride home wouldn't be pleasant at all. Heero strode before them all following Kayuto.

"Mr Hino, is my brother…Duo….he's okay?" Heero asked and Kayuto looked over at the boy who had swallowed his pride to be polite and nodded.

"Yes, the doctors can't figure it out, his leg and arm had been broken, but now he is completely healed, he is up and walking, he should be home when I drop you off,. the doctors have never seen anything like it, quite the miracle," Kayuto remarked and Heero nodded his head taking it all in.

"Thank you," he whispered falling back to join the other teenagers.

As Rei reached him, Heero's hand reached out to grasp hers tightly, much to Usagi's amusement, although she kept her tongue, as she was the only one who had noticed. Kayuto had a arranged for a stretch limo to be waiting for them, and he paused patiently while they clambered inside. Usagi, Mako, Ami and Minako were awed by the sheer beauty and size of the inside, never having seen such luxury before. Once everyone was seated Kayuto gestured for them to begin the drive home. Everyone sat in complete silence, and Minako let out a low whistle of appreciation.

"Rei I didn't know you were this loaded," Minako breathed before she could help herself and blushed when she realized she had said what she was thinking out loud. Wufei gave a smirk at her outgoing nature, wondering if she always spoke before she thought. He found it refreshing, she reminded him of Rei, unafraid to speak her mind. And she was beautiful to boot, long golden hair and wide blue eyes, graceful figure, and damn she looked gorgeous when she blushed.

Kayuto frowned over at Minako, silencing her with one look and he started his lecture.

"I'm not even going to ask what happened, the police have filled me in, now I know I cannot punish all of you, but I can punish you Rei, and Wufei, and you three girls, you will all be grounded for a month, and as for you others, I have called all of your parents and suggested the same," Kayuto waited for protest but heard none. They knew they had gone a bit far this time.

The rest of the drive was in uncomfortable silence, broken only by Usagi's snoring as she had drifted off to sleep, her head resting on Ami's shoulder, pushing Ami over so that Ami was practically sprawled all over Quatre who was doing his best not to blush but failing miserably. Ami was equally embarrassed, by Usagi's snoring and the fact that Ami was forced to be draped all over a young man she had only just met, despite him being attractive. Heero and Rei sat beside each other, their hands still clasped and hidden between both their legs. Heero was the first house they got to and he left with a nod at Kayuto. Trowa and Quatre lived next door to each other and so they were next to go, leaving Wufei and the girls all together. When they reached the house Kayuto informed the girls they would be on the third floor. The girls thanked him and hurried to find their rooms leaving Rei and Wufei with Kayuto as Mariko sauntered down the stairs.

"Well look what you have both done, if word gets out we will be the laughingstock," she lectured them as Kayuto watched the exchange wanting to see Mariko react with the two teenagers who would be their children.

"Duo's okay though, full healed, good to know isn't it?" Wufei asked narrowing his eyes when Mariko froze halfway through stepping onto the next step. She recovered and continued walking shrugging her shoulders uncaringly.

"Only if it concerns us, and it doesn't, that boy's father needs to keep a closer eye on him, and Heero, before those two get into real trouble," Mariko said scathingly, but Rei sensed something as a few pieces of a puzzle stared falling into place.

"Real trouble? They were arrest Mariko," Kayuto interrupted her spiel pointing out the obvious and Mariko giggled lightly.

"But you know what I mean sweetheart, trouble that their father can't get them out of," she amended and Kayuto looked over at Rei and Wufei who were both glowering at Mariko for different reasons.

"Good night you two," Kayuto excused himself going straight to his study and eying both Rei and Wufei, Mariko followed him.

When Rei finally reached her room, she wasn't that surprised to find Usagi waiting for her. In fact Rei would have been disappointed if Usagi hadn't been there.

"Rei you've been here how long and you already have a boyfriend!" Usagi squealed laughing as she jumped around on Rei bed and Rei made a face at the outrageous claim.

"He's not my boyfriend," Rei replied rushing over to grab Usagi and stop her jumping and Usagi folded into a sitting position on Rei's bed rolling her eyes.

"Sure sure, I just suppose random men grab your hand while you are walking," Usagi mocked her giggling and Rei gave an offended look,

"Maybe they do."

"I don't know if I am ready for a relationship Usagi," Rei said softly as a shadow covered her for a moment, her face filling with sadness and Usagi was serious for once, beckoning Rei to sit with her on the bed which Rei did.

"Its all right to date another guy Rei, Yuuichiro…" Usagi tried to comfort Rei, stroking Rei's hair gently but when Usagi mentioned HIS name, Rei pulled away from her burying her face in her hands..

"Stop it Usagi, don't talk about him," Rei whispered in a tortured voice and Usagi rubbed Rei's back comfortingly.

"He's been gone a year now," Usagi reminded her and Rei sniffed, not wanting to cry, but being very close to it.

"I still miss him sometimes," Rei told Usagi who could sympathize. She and her long time boyfriend Mamoru had broken up while he was away studying abroad in America. Its not that they didn't love each other, but they thought it was unfair n the other to sty together when they would never see each other. Besides, they knew Crystal Tokyo would come, and they knew that then, they would be together forever.

"When people die they live on in spirit," Usagi said softly and Rei whispered in a small voice her reply,

"I hope so."

"It wasn't your fault," Usagi said suddenly and Rei lost her control as tears started spilling forth and she turned to bury her head in Usagi shoulder, feeling Usagi's arms encircle her shoulders.

"If he hadn't been on that plane, because I begged him to come home early so we could spend Valentine's Day together, he wouldn't have been in the crash," Rei's guilt was overwhelming but Usagi shook her head, lifting Rei's chin so Rei was looking at her.

"He made his own choices Rei, you have no control over that," Usagi told her simply, knowing it was what Rei needed to hear and Rei gave a half smile as Usagi wiped away her tears.

"When did you get so wise Usagi?" Rei asked giving a dry laugh and Usagi pressed a finger to her lips.

"Don't tell anyone," she joked then giving Rei's forehead a peck Usagi bounded from the room and back up the stairs to her room.

Rei brushed away her remaining tears as she dressed in her nightclothes and crawled into her bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Rei awoke just as dawn was creeping out, to someone rapping on her window. Sitting up Rei saw Wufei on her balcony tapping on the glass doors. Rei got out of bed hurriedly and threw open the doors hissing at him,

"Wufei what are you doing? Do you want to be grounded for life?"

"Come on Rei, let's go," Wufei ignored her outburst grabbing her hand and walking out onto the balcony with her.

"Where?" Rei asked letting him drag her to the edge of the balcony and Wufei gave her a look as he replied,

"You know where."

"But the others," Rei's thoughts went immediately to her friends and Wufei looked up at the next level where the girls would be sleeping.

"Bring them, we have questions," Wufei commanded swinging his leg over the balustrade and grabbing hold of the lattice, which Rei could only assume he was going to climb down.

"We cannot give you the answers," Rei said in a small voice and Wufei looked at her face and saw that she spoke the truth and shrugged.

"All the same, don't you want to see Duo?" he asked and Rei's eyes widened with joy at the thought.

"Of course," she replied and Wufei was already yon his way down.

"Then come on."

"But school?" Rei whispered loudly to him and Wufei threw her a cheeky grin.

"It's a Saturday remember?"

After waking up all the girls, the five of them were creeping through the streets towards the mansion where they would meet the others. Usagi was getting a piggy back from Mako, still half asleep. Ami was frowning, not liking the fact they were disobeying their punishment by sneaking off in the middle of the night. Minako was walking closely beside Ami, but her eyes were on Rei and Wufei. She had seen them together, interacting and she liked the way Wufei acted. She could tell he was a good person because of the way he treated other people.

Rei and Wufei were walking ahead and when they were out of earshot of the other girls Rei grabbed Wufei sleeve as thoughts came flooding back to her.

"Wufei, I think I know what you were trying to tell me about Mariko, and Heero and you. You said there was a betrayal, that Mariko betrayed you all and slandered your father's name, is Mariko…is she…Duo's mother? Is that why you all hate her?" Rei asked and Wufei pulled his sleeve from her grasp cursing.

"For the love of God, don't even speak of this to Heero, I shouldn't have told you," Wufei said beginning to walk faster and Rei quickened her pace of catch up to Wufei's brisk walk.

"Is she Wufei?" Rei persisted and Wufei sighed deeply before answering.

"Yes."

"And Duo? Does he know?" Rei asked and Wufei shook his head.

"No, Heero refuses to let anyone tell him, that's why he is so angry when Mariko is around, he worries she will tell him," Wufei told her and Rei was appalled. This was more messed up that she first thought, and here was Rei and her father in the middle of it all.

"And my father is going to marry her despite the fact Mariko had an affair in her first marriage and has another son with Heero's father?" Rei asked in disbelief, not comprehending how her father could overlook such a thing.

"He doesn't know," Wufei said quietly and Rei's eyes widened in surprise.

"And you didn't tell him?"

"Its not my place to tell," Wufei retorted, and Rei knew he was right, Wufei cared nothing for her father. Why should he?

"Yeah well it's my place," Rei said decidedly nodding her head and Wufei turned to look at her frowning. From what he had gathered of Rei so far, he knew she hated her father, why all of a sudden did she want to protect him?

"What do you care? I thought you hated him," Wufei asked and Rei realized he was right, she did hate her father.

"I do…but…"

"But what? If you hate him let him get what he deserves," Wufei replied knowing if he were in Rei's position that's what he would have done and Rei nodded accepting his answer.

"I…you're right, why should I care?"

But I do, Rei said softly to herself alone. She owed it to her mother to protect her father from harm, and this Mariko was going to cause a lot of harm to what her father cared most about; his reputation.


	10. Secret Identity

Chapter 8 – Secret Identity

AN: How exciting I get to update again cos my boss is out the office. I only write these when he is gone lol. I think this is a little fast moving chapter but I tire of writing these boring days.

Wufei and the girls reached the tunnel to find the other boys waiting for them. Duo was standing there, a wide grin on his perfect face. He looked fine as the girls all knew he would. Rei gave him a hug that Duo thoroughly enjoyed.

"I should get hit by cars more often," Duo joked cheekily and Rei laughed making a playful swipe at his head and he ran to hide behind Usagi.

"Your incorrigible," she said shaking her head and Duo poked his tongue out at her.

"My beautiful guardian angel will protect me," he said with a certainty that stunned all present and Usagi blushed when she realized he was talking about her.

Minako and Makoto noticed this blush and looked at each other smiling widely.

"Oooh, someone's got a crush on Odango!" Minako couldn't resist taking a dig and was rewarded with Usagi turning beet red and Duo smiling obnoxiously nodding his head to confirm she was right.

"Stop teasing Usagi Minako, that's my job," Rei rescued Usagi from further embarrassment and Usagi bestowed on her a grateful smith, while Minako pouted at having her fun ruined.

'Enough," Heero's quiet yet commanding voice stopped their bantering and everyone fell silent, Heero spoke again, "We go in two by two."

Heero's blue eyes sought Rei's violet ones and she went to stand beside him looking up at him curiously. He seemed so quiet and distant, like he was closing his emotions to her. Usagi wasn't getting out of Duo's grasp anytime soon and so resigned herself to being his partner, although she wasn't exactly unhappy. Minako grinned widely at Wufei and bounded up to him, much to his dismay. She was pretty this one, but too…bubbly, for him, so he thought.

"You can be my partner," Minako said brightly and Wufei was blown away by her cheerfulness and beauty.

"Baka onna," he muttered under his breath looking at the beautiful girl in front of him quick as a flash Minako took off her shoe and threw it at Wufei's head, hitting him square in the forehead as payback for his snide comment.

Duo was rolling around on the floor in a split second; Wufei was standing there completely shocked that an onna had dared to do such a thing to him. Rei and Usagi stared at Wufei, then at Minako, then at each other before joining Duo in a fit of giggles on the ground, gasping with laughter. Ami dropped her head into her hands embarrassed at her friend's behavior and Makoto patted her on the back comfortingly shaking her head. Quatre seemed similarly embarrassed and Trowa merely stood there, arms folded across his chest, a small smirk on his face. Even Heero had some sort of half smile on his face.

Wufei seemed to be going through a flood of different emotions. Rage, admiration, embarrassment, and fury all those emotions were racing through his head. Minako watched him for a few moments then calm as you like, she retrieved her shoe and put it on her foot and stood there waiting. Wufei had nothing to say back to that…well he did have a few things.

"How dare you! This is injustice!"

Minako looked at him coolly and then placed her hand over his mouth, silencing him.

"Shh…" she entreated him and Wufei just stared at her audacity.

Mako looked apologetically at Trowa and Quatre who were trying to decide which of the two remaining girls they would partner. When Mako smiled, Trowa made his decision and offered her his hand leaving the blushing Quatre to stumble towards Ami offering her his hand. The two girls accepted watching as Duo and Usagi were braying like donkeys.

Rei pulled herself up off the ground wiping away her tears and Heero grabbed her hand quickly, leading her into the tunnel, leaving the others to follow.

As they continued walking through the darkness as they had done before, Heero seemed like he wanted to say something.

"Rei…I…about Duo…what did your friend do to him?" Heero asked and Rei bit her lip.

"I can't tell you Heero," she said quietly and hero looked over at her in the darkness and Rei could just sense him frowning down at her.

"Why not? Don't you trust me?" his voice seemed different in the darkness, more unsure.

"I do, but this is much bigger than the both of us, I can't ever tell you," Rei said adamantly and she felt something in him change and Rei released he was building another wall against her. Just Wufei said he would.

"I see."

"Heero what's wrong?" Rei asked tugging on his hand and Heero gave a husky chuckle.

"You tell me your secret, I'll tell you mine," he offered the deal and Rei shook his head at his persistence.

"I can't," she said simply and in the darkness she saw Heero fix his eyes on her face as he retorted,

"Well neither can I."

Rei stopped walking and pulled Heero to a stop.

"Heero just because I can't tell you this doesn't mean that I…that I don't…it doesn't change the way I feel about you," Rei couldn't bring herself to say how much she had fallen for him, not when her thoughts drifted to Yuuichiro and the day they had confessed the feelings for one another. If she said those words out loud she could never take them back. It all seemed so unreal to have fallen in love at first sight, yet Rei felt it in her heart that it was so. But she couldn't tell him, she could never tell Heero how she felt. What if because she told him, he did something to get himself hurt? History would repeat itself all over again. Heero seemed to sense what she was trying to say and pulled her closer to him,

"I know Rei," he replied bending his head to kiss her and Rei sighed dreamily, but was thoroughly embarrassed when she heard Duo wolf whistling down the other end of thee passage with Usagi giggling beside him.

The month towards the wedding passed quickly. Rei and the girls spent all day together at school with the boys, bickering and laughing and just hanging out. The ten of them got on like a house on fire, despite the personality clashes. Wufei managed to forgive Minako just a little bit for humiliating him; Ami and Quatre discovered they were united in the goal of knowledge and book reading. Usagi and Duo were like two peas out of the same pod, despite Duo being a year younger, he worshipped the ground Usagi walked on and made her feel something she hadn't felt in a long time, special. Trowa, Minako and Rei all enjoyed the performing arts part of school and so dedicated themselves to youth theatre, and acrobatics. Wufei and Mako preferred a little one on one action, sparring while the others watched cheering on their favorite hero. Rei spent most of her time with Heero, but just as Wufei had predicted, Heero seemed to disappearing more inside himself, he spoke less, his face rarely showed emotion anymore. Rei didn't get it, and whenever she asked, he would remind her that if she wouldn't tell neither would he.

At night they would sneak to the mansions and all would help the boys work on the Gundams's, all of which were nearly finished to perfection. Ami would sit in a chair telling the boys stories of the Sailor Senshi, Mako and Wufei would be arguing about the parts they were using, Minako would be running around trying to be as helpful as she could but failing miserably, Usagi and Duo would be lounging by where Ami sat, so entranced in the story, Rei would sit in Wing Zero, helping Heero to arrange the circuitry inside the Gundam and Trowa and Quatre would be silently working on their Gundams, Quatre asking Ami's opinion whenever he could.

Rei spent as little time with Mariko and her father as she could arrange, and somehow just couldn't bring herself to reveal to her father what she knew. Mariko always seemed to be around and Rei could never talk to him privately about it. Mariko had tried having a few conversations, stopping her on the stairs or on the way to her bedroom, but Mariko's presence made Rei uncomfortable and she would look for the quickest escape route if she saw Mariko coming.

Finally the night of the engagement party came around and Rei just had this terrible feeling that all sorts of secrets would be revealed that night, because she planned to tell her father, the duplicity of his new wife to be. And Rei was going to enjoy it.

Rei sat preening herself in the mirror and wasn't surprised to see Minako race into the room wearing one shoe, with a black smudge under her eye.

"Get in a fight did you?" Rei asked sweetly from where she sat and Minako glared at her and threw the closest pillow.

"Eye make up remover?" Minako asked gruffly and Rei pointed to the bathroom.

"Help yourself."

"Minako, so help me, if you are wearing my shoes…" Mako stalked into the room at that moment and looked Minako up and down staring at her in shock. The shock wasn't from the fact that Minako had the mascara all over her eyes making her look like a panda, and it wasn't because Minako was wearing one of the shoes that Mako had been looking for, it was because she and Minako were wearing the exact same dress.

"Or wearing your dress," Rei joked laughing at their dumbstruck faces and Mako and Mina both glared at her then looked back at each other.

"I'll change," they both offered at the same time then scurried out to do just that, Minako forgetting the mascara for the moment.

Next thing Rei knew Usagi and Ami entered, both the perfect picture lovely as can be. Usagi smiled proudly at Rei, her white teeth glimmering in the lamplight.

"I've been getting etiquette lessons from Ami especially for the wedding so I don't embarrass you and fall over Mariko's train, however funny you think it might be," Usagi giggled and Rei laughed kissing Usagi's forehead gently.

"Just don't ever change Odango, I don't know what I would do without you," Rei whispered and Usagi nodded, her hand reaching up to play with the golden cross Duo had given to her as a gift for her birthday that was just one week passed. It had been quite the party. Usagi had cut the cake all the way to the bottom, and Wufei had grinned from ear to ear, taking great pleasure in informing her that if you touch the bottom you have to kiss the nearest boy and low and behold, as one would expect, it was Duo. Their kiss, which everyone expected to be nothing more than a peck, turned into a right royal snog. The two had parted and laughed blushing, but there had been a definite change in Usagi that week. She was more quiet, but happy, contented, walking around as though she was walking on a cloud and Rei knew Duo was the cause of her friend's sudden happiness. It was good to see Usagi so happy, she hadn't been since she had said goodbye to Mamoru. Deep down Rei knew it couldn't last though, Crystal Tokyo had proved Mamoru would be with Usagi in the end for eternity, but it was nice to see her being her old self, before all this talk of destiny came into play.

Minako came running back in the room, dressed in a new outfit, looking delightful apart from the mascara that was still around her eye. Mako followed dusting invisible lint from her new outfit proudly coming to show the other girls.

Wufei appeared in the doorway shaking his head as he looked at them all.

"Are you onna's ready?" Wufei asked grumpily and Minako, forgetting about the mascara turned to face him, smiling widely and Wufei let out a yell of shock startling everyone.

"Oh my God! Minako…" Wufei said trying to control himself, not wanting to hurt her feelings and Minako fluttering her eyelashes, not realizing it looked ridiculous with the mascara.

"What's the matter don't I look nice?" Minako asked obvious to the others all trying inconspicuously that she had mascara around her eye and Wufei smiled fondly at her. He had grown attached to the munchkin. All her silly antics amused him and made him happier than he had been in a long time.

"You look lovely," he told her then turned and walked down the stairs calling out, "now hurry up!"

Minako turned around to find Rei holding up a mirror for her and Minako took one look at the mirror and instead of screaming at her reflection Minako smiled and sighed dreamily sinking onto Rei's bed.

"He thinks I'm lovely even when I'm not."


	11. Revealed

Chapter 9 – Revealed

AN: Boss is out and here is another chapter! Umm…well I don't really know about this chapter but I like it.

The engagement party was held at one of the fanciest hotels around. Held on the 15th floor in the convention room, the hotel was abuzz with chatter.

Rei descended the stairs into the throng of people with Usagi and Ami at her side and Mako and Minako following behind them. Wufei had dropped them off and went to park the car so the girls had entered alone, but they weren't alone for very long. Duo bounded up to Usagi and took a deep bow, causing the girls to laugh at his extravagance.

"My lady, I have been waiting for you and only you," Duo assured her smiling in his charming way and Usagi blushed to the roots of her hair.

"Oh Duo," Usagi breathed and Rei frowned inwardly at the look of complete happiness on Usagi's face. She couldn't fall in love with Duo as much as Rei would have loved to see them together. Their very future depended on Mamoru and Usagi creating Crystal Tokyo. Only the night before Usagi has sat in Rei's room and told her that she was still in love with Mamoru as much as she had ever been.

"Come, let us dance," Duo said taking Usagi's hand and whirling her away, winking cheekily at Rei who smiled at him and Usagi giggled the entire way.

Ami spotted Quatre and waved him over.

"Ami, I just finished the most amazing book…The Davinchi…" Quatre gushed but stopped when Ami finished his sentence for him.

"The Davinchi Code… yes I read it too," Ami said nodding her head and Quatre beamed with joy.

"Shall we dance and share views?" he enquired holding out his hand and Ami took his hand without hesitation.

"I'd love to."

They too disappeared to the dance floor. Mako and Trowa met at the cocktail bar being a little older than the rest and sat at the bar talking, standing very close to each other. Minako looked impatiently for Wufei and when he came stomping in muttering about the stupidity of all the other driver's Minako sallied up to him smiling winningly.

"Wow, I love dancing, don't you Wufei?" Minako hinting smiling at him and Wufei knew where this conversation was headed.

"No," he grunted trying to edge away from her, but Minako was like a leech.

"Yes you do, please Wufei," when Minako looked up at him with those pitiful blue eyes, Wufei's resistance crumbled and he reluctantly led her to the dance floor.

Rei craned her neck to look for Heero, but couldn't see him at all. And then she saw him. Dressed in the uniform of a soldier, a privates uniform. Rei swallowed quickly not knowing at all what this meant. He was standing next to his face, nodding at people as they passed him by, but when his eyes locked with Rei's he excused himself from his father and walked over to her stiffly.

"Heero what is this?" Rei asked and Heero captured her hand in his.

"Come on, I think its time I told you," Heero said his voice cold and unfeeling and alarmed Rei let him lead her out onto the balcony. Once outside he dropped her hand and started pacing near the railing.

"What is going on Heero?" Rei asked softly not wanting to hear the answer but knowing that she had to hear it.

"My father wants me to pilot the Gundam, a war has begun in the outer solar system, and he wants me involved, he says I can be the Perfect Solider, because of my Gundam," Heero admitted and Rei's eyes widened in shock as she stared upon Heero's impassive face. He was leaving her? And he was only telling her now…

"You're going to war? When were you going to tell me?" Rei asked in disbelief and Heero gave her a cold look, with those blue eyes.

"When you told me your secret," he said his voice wavered a little and Rei opened her mouth and closed it.

She couldn't tell him. She had sworn an oath with the other girls to never tell anyone their secret identities.

"Tell me your secret Rei, I leave tomorrow," Heero prompted and Rei's heart dropped into her boots.

"Tomorrow?" she repeated dumbly and Heero nodded to confirm.

"Tell me," he asked of her one last time and Rei tore her eyes away from him, so full of accusation that she couldn't bare it.

"I can't," Rei whispered dropping her head into her hands to cry with her back facing Heero. They were but a few feet apart and Heero bowed his head. He wanted to reach out and hold her, comfort her, tell her everything would be okay, but he knew he couldn't trust her. He maybe loved her, but if she couldn't love him enough to share her life, then how was he to share his with her. Heero closed his eyes head bowed and thought quietly of him and Rei.

Suddenly Rei felt small hands on her shoulders shoving her backwards and Rei looked up in surprise as she stumbled backwards to see onyx black eyes and honey blonde curls in the shadows. The force of the push shoved her into Heero and they both would have fallen over the edge of the balcony if Heero hadn't taken the initiative and pushed Rei forward again, the force throwing him over the edge.

"Heero!" Rei screamed in pure terror from where she had fallen to the ground after being pushed by Heero. She crawled to the balcony and looked over and she was relieved to see Heero had managed to grab hold of some sort of statue protruding from the floor of the balcony.

"Uh, Rei get help," Heero called to her gruffly but Rei knew what she had to do.

"Heero hold on," Rei begged him taking out her henshin stick.

Heero looked up at Rei's beautiful face staring down at him, pale in the moonlight and trusted what she had to stay.

"Mars Crystal Power!" Rei cried out and Heero watched in fascination as his simple Rei turned into a senshi. So intense was his concentration that he forgot to concentrate on holding on and just as he transformation was complete, Heero let go of the statue.

And he was falling.

Sailor Mars had never moved so fast in all her life. One second she was standing on the balcony and the next she was diving off a balcony after Heero. Just as she grabbed him, Sailor Mars used her momentum to maneuver them so that they landed into swimming pool that was about ten metres from the balcony. Before they crashed into the water Sailor Mars and Heero's eyes locked.

"Rei, you never told me," he managed to wheeze, after having been winded when Rei tackled him and Rei had time to whisper two words before they sank under the water,

"I'm sorry."

Usagi and Duo were the ones who found Sailor Mars and Heero floating in the pool. She and Duo had gone for a stroll through the gardens when they saw Sailor Mars jump off the balcony to intercept Heero and then watched helplessly as the two hit the surface of the pool but a loud crash. Duo and Usagi didn't even stop, they ran and dove into the water after their friends and dragged them to the side of the pool, Heero and Sailor Mars wheezing and spluttering having swallowed water when they landed in the pool. It took a few moments for Duo and Usagi to drag Sailor Mars and Heero from the pool and Sailor Mars' senshi outfit faded away much to Heero and Duo's surprise and was replaced once again by Rei's dress. People had heard the commotion and started wandering out to find what had happened, narrowly missing Rei's transformation back to herself.

Kayuto came out, took one look at his shivering daughter and her shaking boyfriend and turned to hiss at all his guests,

"Back inside everyone, there is nothing to see here."

Kayuto then turned to Rei and she expected him to yell but instead he came over to kneel before her.

"My child, what are you doing with yourself?" he asked her shaking his head and shivering and cold Rei allowed Kayuto to wrap his arms around her. Kayuto scooped her easily into his arms and looked at Usagi, taking in her wet attire and then at Heero and Duo and he jerked his head towards them.

"Come all of you, I will hire out four rooms at this hotel for all of you to change and arrange for some clothes for you all," Kayuto said and the three teenagers followed Kayuto who had Rei curled up in his arms. They passed Mariko without a word who was disturbed to see Rei in her father's arms. Did this mean they were getting closer? Mariko didn't want that to happen at all. Mako, Ami and Minako saw the state of their princess and friend and tried to get to them but one barking order from Kayuto kept them back. They did as told, holding back Quatre, Trowa and Wufei as well.

An hour or so later, Rei emerged from her bathroom, feeling warm and refreshed. The water had been so cold in the pool. She desperately wanted to see Heero, but until she had clothes whatever was between them would have to wait. All she had right now was the towel wrapped around her.

The door to her room opened and Mariko bustled in holding a replacement dress and upon seeing her Rei stood up, staring her down, her eyes glowing with hate. Mariko had the dress pressed against her chest but Rei didn't care for the dress, all she could see was the woman who was holding it.

"Rei darling, I heard all the commotion, are you all right?" Mariko asked, her voice fake with concern and Rei had only a few words to say to her step-mother-to-be.

"I saw you Mariko, you pushed me, you tried to kill me and Heero. "

OOC: Oooh, Rei knows…and Mariko is stuffed! Or is she….mwahahahah cough cough sorry…lol


	12. Only the Beginning

Chapter 12 – Only the Beginning

AN: Yeah! Boss out again! I'm sorta loosing my momentum with this story though. I just want to get it over and done so I can start posting my other one. I really really like my other one, so hopefully you all will too. But I like this one too of course. So sorry if this is a bit rushed, but hey the story is like 11 chapters long so far and that's bordering on excessive.

"I saw you Mariko, you pushed me, you tried to kill me and Heero. "

Mariko visibly paled at Rei's words and Rei knew that she was right. Mariko opened and closed her mouth, but she couldn't think of anything to say. The brat was right and she had been found out. Mariko knew it would be useless to deny so she shrugged and smiled, letting her true colours show.

"You were becoming a pain in my arse, I had to do something," Mariko said shrugging her shoulders again; grinning wickedly and Rei winced at the hard look in her eyes.

"But why Heero?" Rei asked her eyebrows furrowing wondering why Mariko wanted to kill her boyfriend as well and Mariko gave a harsh laugh.

"That boy keeps me from my son, which I am sure Wufei would have told you in your late night conversations, stupid boy that he is, utterly useless, all I asked him to do was charm Kayuto so that Kayuto would name him the heir, not too much to ask is it? But no Wufei just had to go piss him off, so your father named you the heir," Mariko said this spitefully and her words shocked Rei.

"Me?" Rei repeated in awe.

Rei couldn't believe her father had named her the heir to his fortune. It was unbelievable. Could it be my father actually cares about my future and me? Rei wondering briefly but her thoughts were interrupted when Mariko let loose a guttural chuckle.

"Of course, who else would inherit his millions but his precious Rei. He loves you Rei, you know that? It makes me sick at how much he dotes on you and that ridiculous temple, and now he is giving you his fortune," Mariko shook her head in bewilderment, before she reached into her little sparkly handbag and pulled out a revolver and upon seeing it Rei took an involuntary step backwards as Mariko said quite seriously and sanely, " I can't let that happen, I worked too hard for this."

"What are you doing with that gun?" Rei asked worried looking down the barrel trying not to let her fear show. Mariko was unstable, she could pull that trigger at any time.

"I'm getting rid of you, once and for all, so my son can inherit and we can live happily ever after," Mariko said dreamily as though she had said it to herself millions of times. She actually believed her own words and Rei tried to look for a way to keep Mariko occupied while she considered her options.

"You don't think anyone will be suspicious?" Rei asked curiously and Mariko gave a silvery laugh, full of teasing.

"Please, your father has many enemies, any one of them could have assassinated you," Mariko said carelessly and Rei narrowed her eyes at this woman hatefully.

"Your not going to get away with this," Rei warned her and Mariko giggled.

"I think I am," she retorted and Rei put her hands on her hips a strange smile on her face.

"I don't think so, what do you think dad?" Rei cocked her head to one said looking out onto the balcony where the door was wide open and from the shadows stepped her father, much to Mariko's absolute horror.

"I don't think so hun, Wufei your thoughts?" Kayuto asked and Wufei stepped from the shadows his eyes cold and hard as he gazed upon his mother and turned away from her dismissively.

"I think we all heard well enough, right Heero?" Wufei asked and Heero stepped from the shadows of the balcony as well. He walked into the room and went to door of the adjoining room swinging it open to reveal, Minako, Ami and Makoto.

"I've heard enough, girls?" Heero asked them and Minako folded her arms across her chest nodding.

"Yeah I think that's enough," she answered for all three of them and Quatre stepped out from behind them.

"My recorder has heard enough too," Quatre said holding up his recorder and Mariko's face went white and she realized that she had been caught. The gun wavered dangerously in her hand.

"How?" she asked in wonder and Rei smiled smugly.

"I told my father when he brought me to my room that it was you who pushed us. He wanted to proof and you gave it to me, I knew you wouldn't be able to resist trying to finish me off not when there was so much for you to gain," Rei goaded Mariko who stood there in the middle of the room frozen, the gun still in her hand.

It was at that moment Duo wandered into the room with Usagi at his heels. The two had been absent from being invited so they had no clue what was going on.

"What's going on in here?" Duo asked in amazement staring at the scene before him. Heero's face turned into that of a thundercloud.

"Duo! Go back to your room!" Heero roared but Duo ignored him, tossing his brown braid off his shoulder cockily.

"What's Mariko doing with a gun?" he asked staring at the woman and Mariko smiled sweetly at him. My but her Duo was a gorgeous young man.

"Duo go!" Heero yelled at his brother again but Mariko wasn't about to let them off that easily. If she was in pain they were all going to be in pain.

"Want to hear something Duo, my precious little Duo, I'm…your…mother…" Mariko said this her voice darkening with every word and Duo took a step backwards and staggered into Usagi and both of them fell into a heap on the floor, but amazingly Usagi didn't cry. She knew there was something bigger than her going on right now.

"What? Heero is she lying?" Duo asked in a small voice and Heero couldn't lie. He turned away from his younger brother and gave single answer, so filled with distaste and disgust.

"No."

"My mother…" Duo was spun out by the knowledge that after all this time, his mother had been that of one of his best friends.

"Wufei's my brother…" Duo murmured more to himself than anyone else looking up at Wufei who gave him a half smile.

"She's a bad person Duo, be glad you are nothing like her," Rei said to Duo coming to kneel in front of him taking his hand and that was the last straw for Mariko. She snapped.

"don't you touch my son!" she screamed and Rei stood up in shock as Mariko advanced on her and her finger squeezed the trigger of the gun.

From there everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Rei saw from the corner of her eye, Heero take out his gun and shoot Mariko in the chest, and she could hear her father crying out her name but he seemed so far away. She could faintly make out the sound of the girls sobbing and Usagi horrified scream. Rei felt a dull pain in her chest and slowly lowered her head to look at the bullet hole and she realized belatedly that she had been shot. Rei's legs gave way and she fell into Duo and Usagi's waiting arms. Their tears were wetting her face and above her she could see everyone closing in, her father and Heero at the front, Heero reaching her before her father.

"Rei! No! oh God! If only I had been Perfect, a Perfect Soldier this would never have happened, I promise I will be the Perfect Soldier from now on, Rei…Rei I love you," Heero fell upon her body desperately gathering her up in his arms and cuddling her to his chest, for once showing all his emotions perfectly and Rei used whatever strength she had to brush his tears away and looked for the last time deeply into his blue eyes, her hand caressing his cheek lovingly.

"I love you too Heero," she said softly and then the last breath escaped her body and her hand fell to her side limply, her head falling backwards. It took a few moments for Heero to register that she was dead.

"No!" Heero and Kayuto both let out the scream of pure grief.

Usagi had tears running down her cheek and she saw the same faces of complete and utter devastation on the faces of all her friends. The suddenly there was silence. Usagi looked around and saw that the boys, Wufei, Quatre, Trowa, Heero and Duo were all frozen in time as was Kayuto and Mariko. They were frozen in time, with looked of sadness and pain on their faces as they gazed upon Rei's dead body.

From out of a portal strolled the Senshi of Time, calm as can be.

"Pluto, Rei's dead, take us back through time!" Usagi cried out running to Pluto who smiled conspicuously and tapped her nose.

"She isn't dead, watch," Pluto invited Usagi and all the other senshi and they turned their gaze back to Rei's body. Her body had begun glowing in a red haze and then suddenly Rei took a deep breath, her eyes flying open and her back arching as her life was given back to her. Usagi burst into more tears, only this time tears of joy.

It took a few moments for Rei to realize what had happened and she turned to Pluto for an explanation.

"What…happened…" Rei said through ragged breaths and Pluto smiled knowingly, she had been through the exact same procedure before.

"To become immortal you had to die a mortal death," Pluto told her and Ami was still looking around at time having stopped. She knew Pluto only did so on very rare occasions. She frowned and Usagi noticed Ami's concern and looked to Pluto who seemed very calm and unperturbed by all that had happened.

"Why did you stop time?" Usagi demanded and Pluto bowed her head respectfully.

"Because your time here is finished, its time Serenity, Crystal Tokyo is waiting," Pluto said simply and Usagi sank to her knees reaching out to grab Rei's hand.

"But I thought…it was created when I was twenty-one…" Usagi breathed but Pluto was quick to correct her.

"No, you created it when you were sixteen but we kept it sheltered from the rest of world until you were twenty-one, at sixteen all of you disappeared from normal Earth, as did the young Gundam Pilots."

"Are they coming with us to Crystal Tokyo?" Minako asked quite innocently, the hope shining in her blue eyes as she turned to look at Wufei. Pluto looked sadly at the face of their young Goddess of Love and shook her head.

"No, they are going to the future with their Gundams, these five young men will win the war for the Sanq Kingdom," Pluto said sadly and Minako's face fell.

"Let us say goodbye Pluto," Ami pleaded quietly and Mako put a hand on Ami's shoulder to comfort her and Pluto again bowed her head this time with regret.

"No, I'm sorry, but when I froze them I…" Pluto broke off at the accusing look she saw in Rei's eyes for already Rei could sense what Pluto had done. Being immortal gave her intuition a kick-start, she felt more knowledgeable and she knew what Pluto had done.

"You what?" Usagi asked wondering why Pluto broke off her sentence but Rei finished it for her.

"She wiped their memories clean, they don't remember us at all."

"Yes, I had to, they will remember parts of this life, Heero will remember his promise to be the Perfect Soldier for a reason he can't remember, Wufei will remember a wife he thought he once had called Meiran, he will remember her to be like Rei and Minako joined as one, Trowa won't remember much at all I'm afraid his past will be forgotten, just a glimpse of a woman he once loved. You Makoto and every woman he meets he will compare them to you, and Quatre will remember that he once had a best friend in his childhood, but she died in the first wave of fighting," Pluto told them all the memories she had implanted into the Gundam Pilots heads and Mako gasped with shock, her shoulders heaving with her sobs and Ami clung to the older girl, trying to give her strength as well as dealing with her own pain. Rei felt numb, and noticed Usagi was shaking.

"And Duo?" she asked, her voice cracking with emotion as she turned her head to look at him, his face frowning with grief as he looked at the spot where Rei had once been.

"Duo will remember that he has been abandoned by all who loved him, believing to have grown up in a church, and in his heart he will always remember the Moon Angel whom saved him from the burning church," Pluto said hating to be the bearer of bad news and Usagi buried her face in her hands, as silent tears took over her. Rei rubbed her Queen's back gently.

"So we will never see them again?" Makoto asked, her voice and heart heavy and Pluto gave her a wink.

"I didn't say that," she said smiling wickedly, as she repeated her previous words, "I said they had to go to the near future to win the war, after that their destiny is their own, by the time the war is over, you will all be immortals living in Crystal Tokyo, a place of legend that will reappear to the world after the war is over, who is to say what will happen after that."

"So we might meet again?" Ami asked hopefully and Pluto nodded her head.

"It's a possibility."

"And my father?" Rei asked the question and Pluto for once didn't have any winks to give her. For Rei's father the cold hard truth of life was to set in.

"I'm sorry Rei, but you have to disappear from his life too," Pluto said and Rei's lower lip trembled as she looked at her father's weathered face.

"He has been through so much already," Rei whispered more to herself than anyone else and Pluto couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I'm sorry."

Rei walked over to her frozen father and leaned over to kiss his cheek gently.

"I love you papa," Rei whispered in his ear, knowing that even in his frozen state he would hear her, and feel the love she had come to feel for him.

"Let's just go," Rei said turning her back on the scene behind her. Turning her back on Heero, Duo, Wufei, Quatre and Trowa, and Kayuto and a life she had come to love despite her stepmother. She had to turn her back on some of the happiest times she had ever known and all for destiny.

"Are you ready Serenity?" Pluto asked her and Usagi took out her Silver Imperial Crystal and held it in both of her hands delicately.

"Yes."

"Okay well I will send the Gundam Pilots on their way and then its time to begin," Pluto said concentrating and all the Gundam Pilots were engulfed in a white light.

"Yes, it is only the beginning," Usagi said as the Spirit of Serenity came upon her and her dress changed into that of Neo Queen Serenity.

Rei turned back in time to see Heero disappear through a time portal, the other Gundam Pilots were following suit.

"Farewell Heero, we will meet again, I promise," Rei said softly, hearing each of the girls whisper the exact same words to the men they were saying goodbye to.

Usagi, no Neo Queen Serenity was right, it is only the beginning.

They would meet again.

AN: phew its finally finished. If I can be bothered a bit later when I am more motivated I will write a sequel. Or maybe just an epilogue to tag onto the end of this story where they are all reunited. Although sometimes it nice to let your imagination say what comes next. Anyway, let me know if you want me to write an epilogue where they all meet again.

Yay, in the next few weeks I will start posting my new story, if I can find a disk to transfer the story onto my work computer that is…..

Thanks everyone who reviewed, I've never received so many reviews for one story. That was awesome guys, thanks for much, I really appreciated all the feedback and people telling me to keep going. I'm sorry it was a crap end to the story, but my next one will be awesome.


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